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PRESKNTl-l) IIY ChTA'M' 



GEOLOaY AND REYELATION. 



Sicut Augustinas docet, in hujusmodi qnsestionibus dno sunt observanda. 
Primo quidem. ut Veritas Scripturae inconcusse teneatur. Secundo, cum Scrip- 
tura Divina muldpliciter exponi possit, quod nulli espositioni.aliquis ita 
prsecise iubfereat, ut si certa ratione constiterit hoc esse falsum quod aliquis 
eeusum Scriptarse esse credebat, id nihilominus asserere praesumat ; ne Scrip- 
tara'ex hoc ab infidelibus derideatur, et ne eis via credendi praechidatur. 

S. Thomas, Be Opere Sectindce JDiei ; Summa, Pars 1, Qusst. fi8, Art. 1. 

As JJr.gustine teacheth, there are two things to be observed in questions 
of 1 his kind. First, that the truth of Scripture be inviolably maintained. 
Secondly, since Divine Scripture may be explained in many ways, that no one 
cling to any particular exposition with such pertinacity that, if what he sup- 
posed to be the teaching of Scripture should turn out to be plainly false, ho 
would nevertheless presume to put it forward ; lest thereby Sacred Scripture 
should be exposed to the derision of unbelievers, and the way of salvation 
should be closed to them. 

Saint Thomas, On the Wo?'7c of the Second Day. 



Geology and Revelation 



OR THE 



mmt gi$t0t| 0f t\u (imt% 



CONSIDERED EN THE LIGHT OF 



GEOLOGICAL FACTS AND REVEALED RELIGION. 



fFITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Rev. GERALD MOLLOY, D. D., 

PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ST. PATRICK, MAYNOOTH, 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION 

To the American edition ; and a chapter on Cosmogony, [by permission] 
from the Manual of Geology, by Prof. J. D. Dana. 



NEW YORK: 

G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 

1870. 



Hi' 






stereotyped by Little, Rennie & Co., 645 and 647 Broadway, N. T. 
Press of The New York Printing Company, 81, 83, and 85 Centre St., N. Y. 

Gift from 
the Estate of Miss Ruth Putnailt 
Sept.l4,ld31 



To THE Very Reverend 
CHARLES WILLIAM RUSSELL, D. D. 

PRESIDENT OF SAINT PATRICK'S COLLEGE, MATNOOTH, 

This Volume is Inscribed, 

WITH every sentiment OF AFFECTION AND RESPECT. 




PREFACE. 



|HE progress of modern Science has given rise to 
not a few objections against the truths of Revelation. 
And of these there is none which seems to have 
taken such a firm hold of the public mind in 
England, and, indeed, throughout Europe generally, as that 
which is derived from the interesting and startling dis- 
coveries of Geology. Accordingly, when I was engaged, 
some years ago, in explaining and defending the Evidences 
of Revealed Religion, I found myself brought face to face 
with Geological phenomena and Geological speculations. 

It was plainly impossible to consider, in a candid and phi- 
losophical spirit, the argument with which I had to deal, so 
long as I remained ignorant of the evidence on which it was 
based. I resolved, therefore, to make myself familiar with 
the leading principles and the leading facts of Geology. And 
thus I was drawn insensibly into the study of this science ; to 
which I have devoted, for some years, the greater part of my 
leisure hours. 

Impressed with the conviction that no fact can be really at 
variance with Revealed Truth, I determined, in the first place, 
to ascertain the facts which have been brought to light by 
the researches of Geologists. The general principles, which 
might afterward appear to be clearly involved in these facts 
when duly classified and arranged, I was fully prepared to 
admit. And I hoped, in the end, to search out and discover 
the harmony which, I was satisfied, must exist between con- 
clusions thus established and the Inspired Word of God. 

While occupied in working out this problem for myself, it 
was suggested to me that others, who had not time or oppor- 



8 Preface. 

tunity to pursue the same line of inquiry, would, perhaps, be 
glad to share in the fruits of my studies. In deference to this 
suggestion I consented, not without misgivings, to write a 
series of pap>ers on Geology in its relations with Revealed 
Religion, which have appeared, from time to time, in the 
Irish Ecclesiastical Record. From the attention these papers 
attracted, crude and fragmentary as they were, it soon became 
evident that the question was not without interest for a large 
class of readers. And I have been led to believe that a more 
full and mature, but at the same time a popular, Treatise on 
the subject would be a welcome accession to ecclesiastical 
literature, and would supply a want that has long been felt. 
Such a Treatise I have proposed to myself in the present 
Volume. 



In Geology I wish to disclaim, at the outset, all pretension 
to original researches ; which my opportunities did not per- 
mit, nor the scope of my Work demand. It was not my 
object to enlarge the bounds of Geological knowledge ; but 
rather to ascertain what that knowledge is, and to set it 
before my readers in plain and simple words. For this pur- 
pose I have had recourse to the great masters of the 
science : and have endeavored to gather into a systematic 
form the phenomena upon which they are all agreed ; to 
sketch in outline the general theory about which there is 
practically no dispute; and to draw out the line of reasoning 
by which, as it seems to me, this theory may be most effect- 
ively demonstrated. 

Exact references are given to the original authorities on all 
questions of importance, and on many points even of minor 
detail : partly that I might not seem to claim as my own 
what belongs to others ; partly that I might consult for the 
convenience of those who should wish to investigate more 
minutely what I have but lightly touched. And here it may 
be well to observe, with regard to the two classic works of Sir 
Charles Lyell, his Elements and his Principles, which have 
been reproduced so many times aiid in so many forms, that I 
have uniformly referred to the latest edition of each. 





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Preface. 



The Woodcuts which illustrate the Volume will, I venture 
to hope, help to convey a clear and distinct impression of 
many natural objects which can be represented but imperfectly 
in words. Some of the most striking and effective are taken 
from the admirable Manual of Geology brought out some 
years ago by the Reverend Doctor Haughton, of Trinity 
College, Dublin. My best thanks are due to the learned 
author for the kindness with which he placed his Woodblocks 
at my disposal. I have also to express my acknowledgments 
to Sir Charles Lyell, who has allowed me to reproduce some 
of the drawings that embellish his works ; and to the emi- 
nent publishers, Messrs. Bell and Daldy of London, and Mr. 
Nimmo of Edinburgh, who have, with great courtesy, fur- 
nished me with electrotypes of several figures from the works 
of Doctor Mantell and Mr. Hugh Miller. 

To my colleagues in Maynooth I am much indebted for 
their judicious suggestions and friendly assistance during the 
progress of the Work. In particular I desire to testify my 
obligations to our distinguished Professor of Scripture, the 
Reverend Doctor McCarthy, for the unwearied kindness with 
which he has allowed me to draw at pleasure on his profound 
and extensive knowledge of the Sacred Text. 



G. M. 



Saint Patrick's College, Maynooth, 
December Ist, 1869. 





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PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



Dr. Molloy has, in the present work, made an important 
contribution to a department of scientific and theologic Htera- 
ture, which has already been enriched by the labors of sev- 
eral other Catholic Fathers, among whom must be mentioned 
Cardinal Wiseman,* Father Perrone,! and Father 
PlANClANljt who, in Italy, maintain substantially, the same 
ground which, in England, has been sustained by Dr. Chal- 
mers, Dr. Buckland, Pye Smith, and Hugh Miller, 
and we may now add with pleasure, by Dr. Molloy. 
Names which, in the United States, find their counterparts in 
Dr. Hitchcock, Prof. Silliman, Prof. A. Guyot, Dr, 
Thompson, and J. D. Dana. 

Reviewing the progress of opinion touching the relations 
of Science to Revealed Religion, it is noteworthy that while 
many Protestant theologians and writers on both sides of the 
Atlantic have, until a recent period, treated the discoveries of 
science, and especially of Geology, so far as they affect theo- 
logical dogmas, in a manner, if not of contempt, at least of 
distrust or unfairness : on the contrary, the Romanist writers 
who have discussed these themes, have done so, generally, in 
a spirit of broad catholicity well calculated to command the 
respect it merits. They have shown no sensitiveness or tim- 
idity lest, perchance, their exegesis might be disturbed by 
candidly admitting the changes demanded by the discoveries 
of Science. 

* Twelve Lectures on the Connection between Science and Revealed Reli- 
gion, by Nicholas Wiseman, D.D., Principal of the English College, and Pro- 
fessor in the University of Rome. Andover: Gould & Newman, 1837. 

+ Prelcctiones Theologicte. 

t Cosmogonia Naturale comparata Col Genesi. 



] 2 Preface. 

The author's discussion of the principles of Geology evinces 
much- familiarity both with the science and what is equally 
important, the necessities of the unscientific reader. He has 
presented, in the second part of his book, an interesting review, 
infused by copious quotations from the Christian Fathers, from 
the time of St. Augustine, showing that long before Geology 
had any existence as a science, and of course, when the discus- 
sions and doubts it has excited were unknown, the essential 
points respecting Time and the order of Creation had received 
careful attention from devout thinkers, and that the conclu- 
sions at which they arrived, on purely theological grounds, 
were, in most cases, much the same as those which the best 
writers of our time deduce from Geological evidence. 

It is now thirty-five years since (1835) CARDINAL, then Dr. 
Wiseman, delivered in Rome, before the English College, 
of which he was the head, his Lectures, already referred to, on 
the connection between Science and Religion, in the fifth and 
sixth of which he considers more particularly the Geological 
argument. The spirit of these lectures was a just rebuke to 
the narrow bigotry of such writers as Mr. Croly, Fairholm, 
and Granville Penn, as well as certain American theolo- 
gians, who, by means of arrogance and denunciation, sought 
to silence the voice of truth, as proclaimed in the language 
of discovery, announcing the nature and the extent of those 
changes in life and in physical development which are recorded 
in the Genesis of the Rocks, because they conceived these im- 
mutable truths must of necessity conflict with the Genesis of 
Moses; the real conflict being only with their narrow interpre- 
tations. With rare moral courage Dr. Wiseman grappled 
with the great questions discussed so well in his lectures, at a 
time when there prevailed, with reference to such themes, a 
very wide-spread distrust, even among men of moderate 
opinions. In fact, the candor and courtesy displayed by Dr. 
Wiseman in his lectures, presents an enviable contrast to the 
acrimony of many theologians, and worthy of all praise, ai,id 
in harmony with the learning and good taste which charac- 
terize his writings. 

Dr. Molloy is a worthy disciple of the same school, and 



Pj-eface. 1 3 

we are glad to find in him the same candor and hberahty 
which it is certainly to be hoped he will receive at the hands 
of those who may differ from him. His geological arguments 
and illustrations are very naturally drawn, chiefly from British 
authorities. It is evident that the condition of opinion upon 
these matters among rehgious teachers and readers in Great 
Britain is less advanced than it is in this country or in 
continental Europe. Our author has obviously but little 
familiarity with the American literature of this subject. The 
similarity in some parts of his book both in thought and 
style with the writings on this subject of the late PROFESSOR 
SiLLlMAN, of Yale College, is quite noticeable. He has ob- 
viously not seen the writings of Dr. HITCHCOCK, of GUYOT, 
of Dana, and of other American writers. We have therefore 
by the kind permission of the author reproduced in this edi- 
tion the chapter on COSMOGONY from PROFESSOR Dana's 
Manual of Geology * The views set forth, in a very con- 
densed form, in this chapter, embrace also the ideas of PRO- 
FESSOR Arnold Guyot, of Princeton, as presented by him in 
his unpublished lecture upon the same subject. 

American readers will remember also that PROFESSOR Dana 
has discussed this subject much more at length in a series of 
papers published in the Bihliotheca Sacrd,\ in a review of 
Dr. Taylee Lewis's Six Days of Creation. % It is greatly to 
be desired that Professor Dana should soon make a revised 
edition of his various writings upon this subject, a work which 
would be received with interest on both sides of the Atlantic. 

We do not propose here to present the bibliography of this 
subject with any completeness, but we desire to mention, to 
those who have not seen it, a little volume of excellent spirit by 
Dr. Jos. P. Thompson, of New York, entitled Man in Genesis 

* A Manual of Geology; treating of the Principles of the science with 
special reference to American Geological History, etc., by James D. Dana, 
M. a., LL. D., etc., 8vo, pp. 998. Philadelphia : Thos. Bliss & Co. 

t January and July, ISbii, and April and July, 1857, covering in all 219 pages, 
8vo. 

i The Six Days of Creation, or the Scriptural Cosmology : with the Ancient 
lilea of Time Worlds in Distinction from Worlds in Space, by Tatler 
T,Ewis, Professor of Greek in Iniou College. 12mo, pp. 407. Schenectady, 
1855. 



1 4 Preface. 



and Geology * which discusses chiefly the relations of man tc 
creation, in seven lectures, the first of which is an " Outline 
of Creation in Genesis." Even as we write another small vol- 
ume on this subject comes to hand under the title of Chem- 
ical History of the Six Days of Creatio7t,] by Mr. John 
Phin, which also contains the substance of a series of lectures 
delivered by the author, who handles his theme in a spirit 
equally reverential and scientific, and well calculated to do 
good. 

Those who desire to know the best exposition of this sub- 
ject at the hands of a modern theologian will read the first 
part of Dr. Lange's Genesis, or the First Book of Moses, X 
in Dr. Tayler Lewis's translation, pp. 159-177. The can- 
did and scholarly spirit of the learned authors of this work 
indicates a marked change in discussions of this nature when 
compared with similar literature of the last generation. 

These few suggestions, chiefly on the American literature 
of this subject, are offered in the belief that some readers 
may be glad to know where to turn for similar discussions, 
while Dr. Molloy will certainly not misinterpret our kindly 
intentions in suggesting to him some contemporary sources 
of information to most of which he very probably had no 
means of access when his excellent work was prepared. 

July, 1870. 

* Man iu Genesis and Geology ; or, the Bible account of Man's Creatioa 
tested by Scientific Theories of his Origin and Antiquity, by Joseph P. 
Thompson, D.D., LL.D. New York, 12mo, pp. 149. 1870, 

t The Chemical History of the Six Days of Creation, by JohnPhtn, editor 
of the Technologist. American News Company, New York, pp. 95, 12mo, 
1870. 

X Genesis, or the First Book of Moses, together with a General Theological 
and Horaitetical Introduction to the Old Testament, by John Peter Lange, 
D. D., Professor in Ordinary of Theology in the University of Bonn. Trans- 
lated from the Gennau, with additions by Professor Tatler Leavis, LL. D., 
Schenectady, New Y'ork, and A. Gosman, D. D., Lawrencevillo, N. J. New 
Tork : Charles Scribuer & Co., 654 Broadway, 1868. Svo, pp. 665. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTOEY CHAPTER. 

PAGB, 

Scope of the Work explained — Geology looked on with Suspicion 
by Christians — hailed with Triumph by Unbelievers — no Contra- 
diction possible between the Works of Nature and the Word of 
God — Author not jealous of Progress in Geological Discover- 
ies — Points of Contact between Geology and Eevelation — the 
Question stated — the Answer — Division of the Work, . . 25 



PART I. 

GEOLOGICAL THEORY AND THE EVIDENCE BY 
WHICH IT IS SUPPORTED. 



CHAPTER I. 

THEORY OF GEOLOGISTS. 

Geology defined— Facts and Theories— Recent Progress of Geol- 
ogy—Stratification of Rocks— Aqueous Rocks ; of Mechanical 

■ Origin— of Chemical Origin— of Organic Origin— Igneous 
Rocks, Plutonic and Volcanic- Metamorphic Rocks— Summary 
of the Rocks that compose the Crust of the Earth— Relative 
Order of Position— Internal Condition of tho. Globe— Move- 
ments of the Earth's Crust— Subterranean Disturbing Force- 
Uplifting and Bending of Strata— Denudation and its Causes- 
Fossil Remains — their Value in Geological Theory, . . .30 

CHAPTER IL 

THEORY OF BEXUDATIOX ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS. 

Pi-inciple of Reasoning common to all the Phvsical Sciences— This 
Pnnciple applicable to Geology- Carbonic Acid an Agent of 



i6 Contents. 

PAGK 

Denudation — Vast Quantity of Lime dissolved by the Waters of 
the llhine and borne away to the German Ocean — Disintegration 
of Kocks by Erost — ^Professor Tyndall on the Mattcrhorn — Run- 
ning Water — its Erosive Power — an active and unceasing Agent 
of Denudation — Mineral Sediment carried out to Sea by the 
Ganges and other great Rivers — Solid Rocks undermined and 
worn away — Ealls of the Clyde at Lanark — Excavating Power 
of Rivers in Auvergne and Sicily — Falls of Niagara — Trans- 
porting Power of Running Water — Eloods in Scotland — Inun- 
dation in the Valley of Bagnes in Switzerland, . . .47 



CHAPTER III. 

THEORY OF DENUDATION — iTURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The Breakers of the Ocean — Caverns and Eair^ Bridges of Kilkee 
— Italy and Sicily — The Shetland Islands — East and South 
Coast of Britain — Tracts of Land swallowed up by the Sea — 
loland of Heligoland — Northstrand — Tides and Currents — 
South Atlantic Current — Equatorial Current — The Gulf Stream 
—its Course described— rExam])les of its Power as an Agent of 
Transport, • .... 61 

CHAPTER IV. 

THEORY OF DENUDATION — CONCLUDED. 

Glaciers — their Nature and Composition — their unceasing Mo- 
tion — Powerful Agents of Denudation — Icebergs — their Number 
and Size — Erratic Blocks and loose Gravel spread out over 
Mountains, Plains, and Valleys, at the Bottom of the Sea — 
Characteristic Marks of moving Ice — Evidence of ancient Gla- 
cial Action — Illustrations from the Alps — from the Mountains of 
the Jura — Theoiy applied to Northern Europe — to Scotland, 
Wales, and Ireland — The Fact of Denudation established — 
Summary of the Evidence— This Fact the first Step in Geologi- 
cal Theory, " . 71 

CHAPTER V. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF MECHANICAL ORIGIN — THEORY DEVELOPED 
AND ILLUSTRATED. 

Formation of Stratified Rocks ascribed to the Agency of Natural 
Causes — This Theory supported by Facts — The Argument 
stated — Examples of Mechanical' Rocks — Materials of whie-li 
they are composed — Origin and History of these INIaterials 
traced out — Process of Deposition — Process of Consolidation — 
Instances of Consolidation by Pressure — Consolidation perfected 
by Natural Cements — Curious Illustrations — ConsoUdation of 
Sandstone in Cornwall — Arrangement of Strata explained by 
intermittent Action of .the' Agents of Denudation, . . .87 



Conte7its, 1 7 



CHAPTER VI. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF MECHANICAL ORIGIN — FURTHER 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Impossible to witness the formation of Stratified Rocks in the 
Depths of the Ocean — On a small scale Examples are exhibited 
by Rivers and Lakes — Alluvial Plains — their extraordinary Fer- 
tility — Gi-eat Basin of the Nile — Experiments of the Royal So- 
ciety — The Mississippi and the Orinoco — Some Rivers fill up 
their own Channels — Case of the River Po — Artificial Embank- 
ments — Lai-ge Tract of Alluvial Soil deposited by the Rhone in 
the Lake of Geneva — Deltas — The Delta of the Ganges and 
Brahmapootra — Delta of the Nile, 100 

CHAPTER VII. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF CHEMICAL ORIGIN. 

Chemical Agency employed in the Eormation of Mechanical Rocks 
— But some Rocks produced almost exclusively by the Action of 
Chemical Laws — Difference between a Mixture and a Solution — 
a Saturated Solution — Stalactites and Stalagmites — Fantastic 
Columns in Limestone Caverns — The Grotto of Antiparos in 
the Grecian Archipelago — Wyer's Cave in the Blue Mountains 
of America — Travertine Rock in Italy — GroAvth of Limestone 
in the Solfatara Lake near Tivoli — Incrustations of the Anio — 
Formation of Travertine at the Baths of San Filippo and San 
Vignone, ... . . , 109 

CHAPTER VIII. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF ORGANIC ORIGIN — ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
ANIMAL LIFE. 

Nature of Organic Rocks — Carbonate of Lime extracted from the 
Sea by the Inten^ention of minute Animalcules — Chalk Rock — 
its vast Extent — supposed to be of Organic Origin — A Stratum 
of the same kind now growing up on the Floor of the Atlantic 
Ocean — Coral Reefs and Islands — their general Appearance — 
■ their Geographical Distribution — their Organic Origin — Struc-* 
ture of the Zoophyte — Various Illustrations — Agency of the 
Zoophyte in the Construction of Coral Rock^ — How the sunken 
Reef is converted into an Island — and peopled with Plants and 
Animals — Difficulty proposed and considered — Hypothesis of 
Mr. Darwin — Coral Limestone in the solid Crust of the Earth, 118 

CHAPTER IX. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF ORGANIC ORIGIN— ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
VEGETABLE LIFE. 

Origin of Coal — ^Evident Traces of Plants and Trees in Coal 
Mines — Coal made up of the same Elements as Wood — Beds of 



1 8 Contents. 

PAGE 

Coal found vesting upon Clay in which are presented the Roots 
of Trees — Insensible Transition from Wood to Coal — ^Forest- 
covered Swamps — Accumulations of Drift Wood in Lakes and 
Estuaries — Peat Bogs — Beds of Lignite — Seams of pure Coal 
with half Carbonized Trees, some lying prostrate, some standing 
erect — Summary of the Argument hitherto pursued — Objection 
to this Argument from the Omnipotence of God — Answer to 
the Objection, .141 

CHAPTER X. 

FOSSIL REMAINS THE MUSEUM. 

Recapitulation — Scope of our Ai'gument — Theory of Stratified 
Rocks the Framework of Geological Science— This Theory 
brings Geology into Contact with Revelation — The Line of Rea- 
soning hitherto pursued confirmed by the Testimony of Fossil 
Remains — Meaning of the Word Fossil — Inexhaustible Abun- 
dance oi' Fossils — Various States of Preservation — Petrifaction 
— Experiments of Professor Goppert — Organic Rocks afford 
some Insight into the Fossil Woi-ld — The Reality and Signifi- 
cance of Fossil Remains must be learned fi'om Observation — 
The British Museum — Colossal Skeletons — Bones and Shells of 
Animals — Fossil Plants and Trees, ..... 156 



CHAPTER XI. 

FOSSIL REMAINS — THE EXPLORATION. 

From the Museum to the Quarry — Fossil Fish in the Limestone 
Rocks of Monte Bolca — in the Quarries of Aix — in the Chalk 
of Sussex — The Ichthyosaurus or Fish-like Lizard — Gigantic 
Dimensions of this Ancient Monster — its Predatory Habits — 
The Plesiosaurus — The Megatherium or great Wild Beast — 
History of its Discovery — the Mylodon — Profusion of Fossil 
Shells — Petrified Trees erect in the Limestone Rock of Portland 
—Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures — The Sigillaria— The 
Fern — The Calamite — The Lepidodendron — Coal Mine of Treuil 
— Fossil Remains afford undeniable Evidence of former Animal 
and Vegetable Life — Their Existence cannot be accounted for 
by the Plastic Power of Nature — nor can it reasonably be 
ascribed to a Special Act of Creation, 172 



CHAPTER XIL 

GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY — PRINCIPLES OF THE SYSTEM EXPLAINEE 
AND DEVELOPED. 

Significance of Fossil Remains — Science of Palaeontology — Classi- 
fication of existing Animal LifcT— Fpssil Remains are found to 
fit in with this Classification — Succession of Organic Life — Time 
in Geology not measured by Years and Centuries — Successive 



Contents. 1 9 

PAGE 

Periods marked by Successive Forms of Life — The Geologist, 
aims at arranging these Periods in Chronological Order — Posi- 
tion of the various Groups of Strata not sufficient for this pur- 
pose — It is accomplished chietly through the aid of Fossil 
Eemains — Mode of proceeding practically explained— Chrono- 
logical Table, 198 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY — REMARKS ON THE SUCCESSION OF 
ORGANIC LIFE. 

Summary of the History of Stratified Rocks — Striking Character- 
istics of certain Formations — Human Remains found only in 
superficial Deposits— Gradual Transition from the Organic Life 
of one Period to that of the next — Evidence in favor of this 
Opinion — Advance from Lower to Higher Types of Organic 
Life as we ascend from the Older to the more Recent Fonna- 
tions — ^Economic Value of Geological Chronology — Illustration 
— Search for Coal — the Practical Man at Fault — the Geologist 
comes to his aid, and saves him from useless Expense, . .217 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT — ITS EXISTENCE DEMONSTRATED BY FACTS. 

Theory of Stratified Rocks supposes Disturbances of the Earth's 
Crust — These Distui'bances ascribed by Geologists to the Action 
of subterranean Heat — The Existence of Subterranean Heat, 
and its Power to move the Crust of the Earth, proved by direct 
Evidence — Supposed Igneous Origin of our Globe — Remarkable 
Increase of Temperature as we descend into the Earth's Crust 
— Hot Springs — Artesian Wells — Steam issuing from Crevices 
in the Earth — The Geysers of Iceland — A Glimpse of the sub- 
terranean Fires — Mount Vesuvius in 1779 — vast Extent of 
Volcanic Action — Existence of subterranean Heat , an estab- 
lished fact, 233 

CHAPTER XV. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT — ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY TOLCANOS. 

EiFects of subterranean Heat in the present Age of the World — 
Vast Accumulations of solid Matter from the Eruptions of Vol- 
canos — Buried Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum — Curious 
Relics of Roman Life — Monte Nuovo — Eruption of Jorullo in 
the Province of Mexico — Sumbawa in the Indian Archipelago — 
Volcanos in Iceland — Mountain Mass of Etna the Product of 
Volcanic Eruptious — Volcanic Islands — In the Atlantic — in the 
Mediterranean — Suntonn in the Grecian Archipelago, . . 244 



20 Contents, 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SUBTERRANEAIS^ HEAT — ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY 

EARTHQUAKES. 

PAGB 

Earthquakes and Volcanos proceed ft'om the same common Cause 
— Recent Earthquakes in New Zealand — Vast Tracts of Land 
permanently upraised — Earthquakes of Chili in the present Cen- 
tury — Crust of the Earth elevated — Earthquake of Cutch in 
India, 1819 — Remarkable Instance of Subsidence and Upheaval 
— Earthquake of Calabria, 1783 — Earthquake of Lisbon, 1755 
— Great Destruction of Life and Property — Earthquake of Peru, 
August, 1868 — General Scene of Ruin and Devastation — Great 
Sea Wave — A Ship with all her Crew canied a Quarter of a 
Mile inland — Frequency of Earthquakes, .... 258 

CHAPTER XVn. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY UNDULA- 
TIONS OF THE earth's CRUST. 

Gentle Movements of the Earth's Crust within Historic Times — . 
Roman Roads and Temples submerged in the Bay of Raise — 
Temple of Jupiter Serapis — Singular Condition of its Columns 
— Proof of Subsidence and subsequent Upheaval — Indications 
of a second Subsidence noAV actually taking place — Gradual 
Upheaval of the Coast of Sweden — Summary of the Evidence 
adduced to establish this Fact — Subsidence of the Earth's Crust 
on the West Coast of Greenland — Recapitulation, . . .271 



PART II. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH CONSIDERED IN 
RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF GENESIS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION AND EXPOSITION OF THE AUTHOR'S 
VIEW. 

The General Principles of Geological Theory accepted by the Au- 
thor — These Principles plainly import the extreme Antiquity 
of the Earth — Illustration from the Coal, the Chalk, and the 
Boulder Clay — This Conclusion not at Variance with the In- 
spired History of the Creation — Chronology of the Bible — Gene- 
alogies of Genesis — Date of the Creation not fixed by Moses — ■ 
Progress of Opinion on this Point — Cardinal Wiseman, Father 
Peronne, Father Pianciani — Doctor Buckland, Doctor Chalmers, 
Doctor Pye Smith, Hugh MiUer-T-Author's View explained — 
Charge of Rashness and Irreverence answered — Admonitions 
of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas, 280 



Conteiits. 2 1 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FIBST HYPOTHESIS ; — AN INTERVAL OP INDEFINITE DURATION 
BETWEEN THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THE FIRST 
MOSAIC DAT. 

PAGE 

The Heavens and the Earth were created before the First Mosaic 
Day — Objection from Exodus, xx. 9-11 — Answer — Interpreta- 
tion of the Author supported by the best Commentators — Con- 
firmed by the Hebrew Text — Tlae Early Fathers commonly held 
the Existence of created Matter prior to the Work of the Six 
Days — Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostom, Saint Ambrose, Venera- 
ble Bede — The most eminent Doctors in the Schools concurred 
in this Opinion — Peter Lombard, Hugh of Saint Victor, Saint 
Thomas — Also Commentators and Theologians — Perrerius, 
Petavius — Distinguished Names on the other side, A Lapide, 
Tostatus, Saint Augustine — The Opinion is at least not at 
Variance Avith the Voice of Tradition — This Period of created 
Existence may have been of indefinite Length — And the Earth 
may have been furnished then as now with countless Tribes of 
Plants and Animals — Objections to this Hypothesis proposed 
and explained, ' . . . . 300 

CHAPTER XX. 

SECOND HYPOTHESIS ; — THE DAYS OF CKEATION LONG PERIODS OF 
TIME. 

Diversity of Opinion among the Early Fathers regarding the Days 
of Creation — Saint Augustine, Philo Judffius, Clement of Al- 
exandria, Origen, Saint Athanasias, Saint Eucherius, Porcopius 
— Albertus Magnus, Saint Thomas, Cardinal Cajetan — Infer- 
ence fi-om these Testimonies — First Argument in favor of the 
popular Interpretation ; a Day, in the literal Sense, means a 
Period of Twenty-four Hours — Answer — This Word often used 
in Scripture for an indefinite Period— Examples from the Old 
and New Testament — Second Ai-gument ; the Days of Creation 
have an Evening and a Morning — Answer — Interpretation of 
Saint Augustine, Venerable Bede, and other Fathers of the 
Church — Third Argument ; the Reason alleged for the Institu- 
tion of the Sabbath Day — Answer — The Law of the Sabbath 
extended to every Seventh Year as well as to every Seventh Day 
— The Seventh Day of God's Rest a long Period of indefinite 
Duration, 318 

CHAPTER XXI. 

APPLICATION OF THE SECOND HYPOTHESIS TO THE MOSAIC HISTORl 
OF CREATION — CONCLUSION. 

Summary of the Argument — Striking Coincidence between the 
Order of Creation as set forth in the Narrative of Moses and in 
thf' Rtcords of Geology — Compaiison illustrated and developed 



2 2 Co7itents. 

PAGB 

— Scheme of Adjustment between the Periods of Geology and 
the Days of Genesis — Tabular View of this Scheme — Objec- 
tions considered — It is not to be regarded as an established The- 
ory, but as an admissible Hypothesis — Either the first Hypothesis 
or the second is sufficient to meet the demands of Geology as 
regards the Antiquity of the Earth — Not necessary to suppose 
that the Sacred Writer was made acquainted with the long Ages 
of Geological Time — He simply records faithfully that which 
was committed to his charge — The Mosaic History of Creation 
stands alone, without Rivals or Competitors, . . / .343 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

!. Granitic Rocks off the Shetland Islands, . ^^^q 

2. Iceberg seen in mid ocean, 1400 miles from land .''"'* 75 

3. Block of Limestone Rock ^^•ith Glacial -markiuo-s . * ' ' 78 

4. 5, 6, 7, 8. Examples of living Zooj^hytes : ^ > ' ■ - ■ '^ 

Campanularia Gelatinosa"; Gorgonia Patula . 131 

i rustra Pilosa ; Madrepora Plantaginea, .' 132 

Corallmm Rubrum, ... "too 

9, 10. Fossil Ferns from the Coal Measures ' ' * * ' 143 

11. Trunk and roots of a forest tree ; found erect in a Coal']Vtine' 

near Liverpool, .... iro 

12. Fossil Irish Deer, '. '. }^^ 

13. Fossil Wood showing the rings of annual growth* .* .* " ' ni 

14. lo. Fossil Fish from Monte Bolca in Italv, . . i7s 1 74 
6. Group of several Fossil Fish in one block of Limestone; . .^76 

i«' fa '^^^''o^'T^^'^^^^'^^^^ock of Sussex, . . . : 177 

18, 19. Two Skeletons of the Ichthyosaurus, from the Lias of 
-Dorsetshire, preserved in the Museum of Trinity CoUeo-e 
-Uublin, •' ° ' ►.„ 

20. Plesiosaurus Cramptonii,'fi-;m' the Lia^ of Yoi'kshire pre- ' 
91 rrr^^^'Z''^ ''', *^-^ Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, .^ .182 

21. The Megatherium, or Great Wild Beast, . \lt 

22. The Mylodon Robustus, . . ; ' {'^^ 

23. Section of a Quarry in the Island of Portl'and, showin«-'the 

24 Cawf frn^'^Il^T^i'Ir'''' '''^?"- "^'^^^ ^^ t^« soHd rock, 189 

24. CaJamite from the Coal Measures of Newcastle 191 

26" iSf "f '''' Stembergii; a forest tree erect i'n a Coal Mine,' 192 

26. Lepidodendroii Elcgans ; Stem and branches, from a Coa 

Mine, near Newcastle, . . . iq^ 

27. Section of a Coal .Aline near Lyons, showing an ancient fo'resi ' 

enveloped in Sandstone, . -.qa 

^^' ^''f^l'^y^^''^''' °f Santorin during the' volcanic er'upiion of 

LIST OF TABLES. 



mie of Stratified Rocks Chronologically arranged, .... 2II 
Table of Geological Formations, showing the fil-st appearance on 
rr 1 1 *^^Jr?^^ o^the various forms of Animal Life, . . 2op 

Table exhibiting the Genealogies of Genesis according to the "' 
yarious Readings of the three most ancient Versions, the 
Hebrew, the Samaritan, and the Septuagint, . . 291 

Table representing a possible Adjustment of the xMosaic Davs ^^th 

the Periods of Geology, " o-i 



II li H'l n I 



J. LL 



Tf ii/ i ■» «r 




^ " " «» ' '■ ■■ " " ■■ '■ m ^ 



GEOLOGY AND REVELATION 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 




Scope of the work explained — Geology looked on with suspi- 
cion by Christians — Hailed with triiujiph by Unbelievers 
— NOi contradiction possible betweeji the works of Nature 
and the Word of God— Author not jealous of progress in 
Geological Discoveries — Points of contact between Geology 
and Revelation — The question stated — The answer — Di- 
vision of the work. 

|MONG the various pursuits that engage the human 
if mind, there are few so attractive as Geology, none 
so important as Revelation. Each of these two 
studies has an interest peculiar to itself. The one is chiefly 
concerned about the world in .which we are living : the 
other about the world to which we are hastening. Geol- 
ogy leads us down into the depths of the Earth, and there, 
unfolding to our view a long series of strange unwritten 
records impressed on lasting monuments by the hand of 
Nature, it proceeds to trace back the history of our Globe 
through myriads of ages into the distant past. Revelation, 
on the other hand, comes to us from above ; and setting 
forth the far more wonderful records of God's dealings with 
man, holds out the hope of another world "everlasting in 

K^ * 2 Cor. vi. I. 



26 Scope of the Work, 

the heavens" * which shall still remain when this earth and 
all the works that are therein shall have melted away with 
fervent heat.* 

But, it may be asked, why Should two such incongruous 
topics be set down for discussion side by side? To an- 
swer this question is to explain the scope and design of the 
present work. We are not going to write a Manual of 
Geology ; nor yet a Treatise on Revelation. Taken sepa- 
rately, these two subjects have been handled with eminent 
skill and ability; the one by the votaries of Science, the 
other by the friends of Theology. It is our purpose to con- 
sider them not so much in themselves as in their mutual 
relations : to compare the conclusions of Geology with the 
truths of Revelation ; and to inquire if it be possible to 
accept the one and yet not to abandon the other. 

An uneasy apprehension has long prevailed among de- 
vout Christians, and a declared conviction among a large 
class of unbelievers, that the discoveries of Geology are 
at variance with the facts recorded in the Book of Genesis. 
Now, the historical narrative of Genesis lies at the very 
foundation of all Revealed Religion. Hence the science 
of Geology, has come to be looked on with suspicion by the 
simple-minded faithful, and to be hailed with joy, as a new 
and powerful auxiliary, by that infidel party which, in these 
latter days, has assumed a position so bold and defiant. It 
is now confidently asserted that- we cannot uphold the 
teaching of .Revelation, unless we shut our eyes to the 
evidence of Geology ; and that we cannot pursue the study 
of Geology, if we are not prepared to renounce our belief in 
the doctrines of Revelation. 

Yet surely this cannot be. - Truth cannot be at variance' 
with truth. If God has recorded the history of our Globe, 
as Geologists maintain, on imperishable monuments within 
the Crust of the Earth, we may be quite sure He has not 

* 2 Pet. Hi. lO. ## 



The Two Records, 27 

contradicted that Record in His Written Word. There 
may be for a time, indeed, a conflict between the student 
of Nature and the student of Revelation. Each is liable to 
error when he undertakes to interpret the record that is 
placed in his hands. Many a brilliant Geological theory, 
received at first with unbounded applause, has been dissi- 
pated by the progress of discovery even within the lifetime 
of its author. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that 
Theologians have sometimes imputed to the Bible that which 
the Bible does not teach. Learned and pious men — Prot- 
estants and Catholics alike — once believed that the Book of 
Joshua represents the succession of day and night as pro- 
duced by the revolution of the Sun around the Earth : 
whereas it is now considered quite plain that the Book of 
Joshua, properly understood, teaches nothing of the kind ; 
but that the Inspired Writer, in describing a wonderful phe- 
nomenon of Nature, simply employs the language of men 
according to the established usage of his time. We need 
not wonder, therefore, that a conflict of opinion should 
sometimes arise between the Geologist and the Theologian ; 
but a conflict there cannot be between the story which God 
has described on His works and the story He has recorded 
in His Written Word. 

Though we come forward, therefore, among those whose 
duty and whose glory it is to uphold Revelation, w^e are by 
no means jealous of the wonderful ardor, and we may add, 
the wonderful success, with which the study of Geology has 
been lately pursued. We have too much confidence in the 
truth of our cause to apprehend that it can sufl"er in any 
way from the progress of Natural Science. It is our con- 
viction, rather, that the more thoroughly the works of Na- 
ture are understood, the more perfectly they will be found 
to harmonize with the truths of Revelation. We are 'not 
afraid, therefore, to venture into the realms of Geology and 
to come face to face with its discoveries. Too long, per- 



28 Two Points of Contact 

haps, has this interesting and popular science been neg- 
lected by those who are ranged under the banner of Reli- 
gion. Let it be ours to show that the study of God's works 
is not incompatible with the belief in God's Word ; and 
that it is quite possible to investigate the ancient history of 
the world we inhabit without forfeiting our right to a better. 

The points of contact between Geology and Revelation 
are chiefly these two : — First, the Antiquity of the Earth ; 
Secondly, the Antiquity of the Human Race. In the pres- 
ent Volume we shall confine our attention to the Antiquity 
of the Earth. The subject that offers itself for discussion 
may be stated in a few words. Geologists maintain that 
the Crust of the Earth has been slowly built up by means 
of a long series of operations which would require hundreds 
of thousands, perhaps millions of years for their accomplish- 
ment : whereas the Bible narrative, it is alleged, allows 
but the short lapse of six or eight thousand years from the 
creation of the world to the present time. The Geological 
record, then, seems to contradict the Mosaic ; and the ques- 
tion is, how this apparent contradiction is to be explained. 

Some have ventured to solve the problem by rejecting 
the historical narrative of the Bible : others by ignoring the 
plain facts of Geology. But there is a third class of writers, 
including many names of the highest eminence and author- 
ity, who contend that we may admit the extreme Antiquity 
of our Globe, which Geology so imperatively demands, 
without compromising in the smallest degree the truthful- 
ness of the Mosaic story. They say that the Chronology of 
the Bible stops short with Adam, and does not go back to 
the beginning of the world. By means of the data which 
the Bible supplies we may calculate, at least roughly, the 
lapse of time from the Creation of Adam to the Birth of 
Christ. But from the first beginning of all created things, 
when God made the Heavens and the Earth, to the close of 
the Sixth Day when Adarii was introduced upon the scene, 



Between Geology and Revelation, 29 

that is an interval which, in the Bible narrative, is left alto- 
gether undefined and uncertain. This is the view which 
we hope to develop and to illustrate in the course of tHe 
following pages. 

Our task naturally divides itself into two parts. First, it 
will be our duty to consider the received theory of Geology, 
and to examine in detail some of the interesting and won- 
derful phenomena on which it is founded. This course of 
investigation, while it is plainly indispensable for the intel- 
ligent appreciation of our subject, cannot fail at the same 
time to unfold many new and striking views of the Power, 
and the Goodness, and the Providence of God. " For the 
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made ; 
even His eternal Power and Godhead,"* 

In the Second Part we shall- consider the Antiquity of the 
Earth in reference to the History of Genesis. It will be 
our purpose to show that, as far as the Bible narrative is 
concerned, an interval of countless ages may have elapsed 
between the first creation of the Heavens and the Earth and 
the beginning of the Six Mosaic Days. Furthermore, w^e 
shall contend that, without any prejudice to the Sacred 
History, we may suppose these Days themselves to have 
been, not days in the ordinar}' sense of the word, but long 
and indefinite Periods of Time. If we succeed in estab- 
lishing these views, it will be obvious to infer that, while 
the Bible enables us to determine, at least by approxima- 
tion, the Age of the Human Race, it allows time without 
limit for the past history of the Earth. 

* Rom. i. 18. 



PART I. 

GEOLOGICAL THEORY AND THE EVIDENCE BY 
WHICH IT IS SUPPORTED. 



CHAPTER I. 

THEORY OF GEOLOGISTS. 

Geology defined — Facts and^ Theories — Recent progress oj 
Geology — Stratification of Rocks — Aqueous Rocks; of Me- 
chanical Origin — of Chemical Origin — of Organic Origin 
— Igjteous Rocks, Plutonic and Volcaiiic — Metaniorphic 
Rocks — Summary of the Rocks that compose the Crust of 
the Earth — Relative order of position — Piternal condition 
of the Globe — Movements of the Earth^s Crust — Subter- 
ranean disticrbi7ig force — Uplifting and bending of Strata 
-^Denudation and its Causes — Fossil Remains — Their 
Value in Geological Theory. 

IHE object of Geology is to examine and record 
the appearances presented by the Crust of the Earth; 
and by the aid of these appearances, to trace out 
the long series of events by which it has been brought into 
its present condition. Geology, therefore, like all other 
natural sciences, is made up partly of- fact, and partly of 
theory. It belongs to the Geologist first to investigate the 
phenomena which the Crust of the Earth exhibits to the eye. 
For this purpose he descends into the mine and the quarry ; 
he visits the lofty cliff by the sea-shore, the deep ravine on 




Facts the Basis of Geology. 3 1 

the mountain side, the cutting of a railway ; in a word, 
every spot where a section of the Earth's Crust is exposed 
to view, either by the action of Nature or by the hand of 
man. He then retires into the silence of his closet, with 
his note-book and his specimens ; and there, having arranged 
and classified the various phenomena which he has already 
examined with his eyes in the outer world, he proceeds to 
make his deductions, and to build up his theory. He seeks 
to explain how materials, so diverse in their composition, 
have come to be piled up together, with such admirable 
order, and yet with such endless variety; and how the solid 
rocks have come to be the repository of petrified trees and 
plants and bones and shells, which seem, as it were, to start 
up from their graves, and to tell strange stories of a bygone 
world. , 

In the early days of Geology there were comparatively 
few who devoted themselves with patient industry to the 
collection and classification of facts : while the number was 
legion of those who, with a very meagre knowledge of facts, 
set themselves to build up systems. A vast multitude of 
different and conflicting theories were, in this way, brought 
into existence, and attracted for a time much public atten- 
tion, each one being vehemently defended by its friends and 
as vehemently assailed by its enemies. These theories rest- 
ing on no solid foundation, could not hold their ground 
against the advancing tide of new discoveries. They flour- 
ished for a brief space, and then gave way to others scarcely 
more substantial, which were destined in their turn to be 
likewise rejected and forgotten. Thus it came to pass, 
from the manifest instability of its principles, that Geology 
was long held in light repute, and practical men set little 
store by its boasted discoveries and startling revelations. 

But it would be unjust and unphilosophical to condemn 
the modern theory of Geologists because of their past er- 
rors. We must judge of this science, not according to what 



32 Errors of Geology, 

it once was in the feebleness of its infancy, but according 
to what it now is in the growing strength of its mature years. 
It seems to be in the nature of things that groundless spec- 
ulations and wild conjectures go before, and sober Science 
follows in their wake. The visionary dreams of the Al- 
chemist led the way to the science of Chemistr}% and the 
idle fancies of the Astrologist have given place to the mar- 
vellous discoveries of Astronomy. So, too, amidst the con- 
fused mass of conflicting arguments and opinions, by which 
the phenomena of Geology were for a long time enveloped 
and obscured, the seeds of a new science were slowly ger- 
minating. New facts were eagerly sought after to support 
or to impugn the favorite theory of the hour ; and though 
theory after theory passed away, yet the facts remained. In 
course of time this accumulation of facts became broad and 
deep and solid enough to form a sound basis for inductive 
reasoning ; and thus almost within our own days Geology 
may be fairly said to have assumed the rank and dignity of 
a science. 

During the last quarter of a century it has been studied 
with a more ardent enthusiasm than, perhaps, any other 
science in England, in France, in Germany, and in Amer- 
ica. It has been studied, too, upon better principles than 
before : less attention has been paid to the building up of 
theories, and far more pains and labor have been expended 
on the careful investigation of natural phenomena. There 
are still, no doubt, different schools of Geologists which are 
divided among themselves as regards many important details 
of theory ; but there are some general conclusions upon 
which all Geologists are substantially agreed, and which, 
they assure us, are established by evidence that is absolutely 
irresistible. It is to these conclusions we wish to invite the 
attention of our readers ; for they bear very closely on the 
question of the Antiquity of the Earth. 

Geologists tell us, then, that the materials of which the 



Evidence of Stratification, 33 

Earth's Crust is composed, are not heaped together in a con- 
fused mass, but are disposed with evident marks of definite 
and systematic arrangement. This is an important truth, 
of which many examples are familiar to us all, though per- 
haps we do not all attend to their significance. Thus in a 
quarry, we see commonly enough first a bed of limestone, 
then above that a bed of gravel, and higher still a bed of 
clay : and even the limestone itself is not. usually a com- 
pact mass, but is arranged in successive layers, something 
like the successive courses of masonry in a building. Now 
it appears that a very large proportion of the Earth's Crust 
is made up in this way of successive layers, or strata, as 
they are called by Geologists. These strata are composed 
of various substances, such as clay, chalk, sand, lime, and 
coal; and they present ever}'where the same general appear- 
ances. They are known under the common name of Aque- 
ous Rocks,* because it is believed that they were originally 
formed under water ; and here it is that the professors of 
Geology first come into collision with the popular notions 
that formerly prevailed. 

They hold that these stratified rocks were not arranged as 
we see them now, when the Earth first came from the hands 

* It may be useful once for all to inform the reader that the term Rock 
is employed by Geologists in a technical sense. It is applied to every large 
mass of mineral matter that goes to form the Crust of the Earth, whether 
it be hard and strong, or soft and plastic. Thus, for example, gravel and 
clay, coal and slate, are called Rocks^ just as well as limestone and granite. 
" Our older writers endeavored to avoid offering such violence to our lan- 
guage, by speaking of the component materials of the Earth as consisting 
of rocks and soils. But there is often so insensible a passage from a soft 
and incoherent state to that of stone, that Geologists of all countries have 
found it indispensable to have one technical term to include both, and in this 
sen^e we find rocAe applied in French, rosea in Italian, and felsart In German. 
The beginn;r, however, must constantly bear in mind, that the term rock 
by no means implies that a mineral mass is in an indurated or stony condi- 
tion." — Lyell's Elements of Geology, p. 4. 

2-^ 



34 Rocks of Mechanical Origin. 

of its Creator, but have been formed, during the lapse of 
unnumbered ages, by the operation of natural causes. 
Nay more, they have divided the rocks into sundry classes, 
and they undertake to explain the particular process by 
which each several variety has been produced. First in 
order and importance are those which derive their existence 
from the mechanical force of moving water. The materials 
of which they are composed first existed in the form of 
minute particles, which were transported by the action of 
water from one place to another ; then they were spread out 
over a given surface, just as we now see layers of sand, or 
mud, or gravel deposited near the mouths of rivers, or in 
the estuaries of the sea, or even upon the land itself during 
temporary inundations. Lastly, after a long interval came 
the slow but certain process of consolidation. The fine 
sand was cemented together and became sandstone ; the 
loose gravel by a similar process was transformed into a 
solid mass, known by the name of Conglomerate or Pud- 
ding-stone ; while the soft mud by simple pressure was con- 
verted into a kind of slaty clay, called Shale. Thus from 
age to age Nature was ever building up new strata, and 
consolidating the old. 

Next in order are the Aqueous Rocks, which owe their 
origin to the agency of chemical laws. To this class belong 
many of our limestone formations. Large quantities of 
carbonate of lime are held in solution by water charged 
with carbonic acid gas : when the carbonic acid, in course 
of time, passes off, the carbonate of lime can no longer be 
held in solution, and it is accordingly precipitated in a solid 
form to the bottom. In this manner was formed that pecu- 
liar kind of limestone called Travertine, which abounds in 
Italy, and which is well known to all who have visited 
Rome, as the stone of which the Coliseum was built. A 
still more familiar example, on a small scale, is seen in 
the case of Stalactites and Stalagmites. Water saturated 



Rocks of Organic Origin. 35 

with carbonic acid trickles down the sides, or drops from 
the roof of a limestone cavern. In its course it dissolves 
carbonate of lime, and holds it in solution ; afterward, 
reaching the floor of the cavern, it slowly evaporates and 
leaves behind it a thin sheet of limestone which is called a 
Stalagmite ; while the icicle-like pendants that are formed 
by a similar process, on the roof of the cavern, are called 
Stalactites. 

There is a third class of Aqueous Rocks which are sup- 
posed to be made up almost exclusively of the fragmentary 
remains of plants and animals, and are therefore called 
Organic. The well-known coral reefs, so dreaded by the 
sailor in tropical seas, are believed to be nothing more than 
a mass of stony skeletons belonging to the minute marine 
animalcules known among zoologists as Polyps or Zoo- 
phytes. These litde creatures, existing together in count- 
less multitudes, extract carbonate of lime from the waters 
of the ocean in which they dwell, and by the action of 
their living organs, convert it into a solid frame or skeleton, 
which is called coral. From generation to generation the 
same process has been going on during the long succession 
of Geological ages ; and huge masses of coral rock, hun- 
dreds of miles in length, have thus been slowly built up 
from fathomless depths of the ocean to within a few feet of 
its surface. Our vast coal formations, on the other hand, 
afford a ready example of rocks which are chiefly com- 
posed of vegetable remains. 

So much for the Aqueous or Stratified Rocks. Geology 
next brings before us another and a very diff"erent group, of 
which the origin is ascribed to fire, and which are conse- 
quently designated by the title of Igneous Rocks. In 
their general appearance they are chiefly distinguished from 
the former by the absence of regular stratification; but they 
are, nevertheless, intersected by numerous planes of divi- 
sion, or joints, as they are called, and thus divided into 



36 Igneous and Met amorphic Rocks, 

blocks of various size and form. Geologists believe that 
these rocks were at one time ceduced to a molten state by 
the action of intense heat, and afterward allowed slowly to 
cool and to crystallize. They are divided into two classes, 
the Plutonic and the Volcanic. The Plutonic Rocks are 
chiefly granite of some kind or another ; and though they 
now often appear at the surface, they are supposed to have 
been produced originally at a considerable depth within 
the crust of the Earth, "or sometimes, perhaps, under 
a certain weight of incumbent ocean,"* The Volcanic 
Rocks have been formed at or near the surface of the 
Earth, and, as the name implies, they are usually ejected, 
in a state of fusion; from the fissures of an active volcano; 
though not unfrequently they assume the more imposing 
form of basaltic columns, as at the Giant's Causeway in 
Ireland, or on the island of Staffa near the coast of Argyle- 
shire in Scotland. 

One group of rocks yet remains to be noticed. They 
have been called by various names at different times, but 
are now generally designated by the term Metamorphic. , In 
some respects they resemble the Aqueous Rocks, while, in 
others, they are more nearly allied to the Igneous. Like 
the former, they are stratified in their outward arrangement ; 
like the latter, they are more or less crystalline in their inter- 
nal texture. As to their origin, we are told that they were 
first deposited under water, like the Aqueous Rocks, and 
that afterward their internal structure was altered by the 
agency of subterranean heat. Hence the name Metamor- 
phic, first suggested by Sir Charles Lyell, which conveys 
the idea that these rocks have undergone a change, of form. 
To this group belong many varieties of slate, and also the 
far-famed statuary marble of Italy. 

Our readers will perceive from this brief outline that, 

* Lyell's Elements of Geology, p. 7. 



General Summary, 37 

if we follow the theory of Geologists, the rocks which com- 
pose the Crust of the Earth may be conveniently divided, 
according to their origin, into three leading groups, the 
Aqueous, the Igneous, and the Metamorphic. * The Aque- 
ous are formed under water, either by the mechanical force 
of the water itself when in motion, or by the agency of 
chemical laws, or by the intervention of organic life. 
Hence they are naturally subdivided into three classes, the 
Mechanical, the Chemical, the Organic. The Igneous 
Rocks are produced by heat, being first melted and then 
allowed to cool. When this process takes place under 
great pressure in the depths of the Earth, the result is 
granite ; and the granite Rocks are called Plutonic : when 
near the surface, through the agency of a volcano, the 
Rocks so formed are called Volcanic. Lastly, the Meta- 
morphic Rocks are nothing else than Aqueous Rocks, of 
which the texture has been altered by the action of intense 
heat. 

As regards the relative order of position amongst these 
various classes of rocks, the lowest place seems uniformly 
to belong to the granitic or Plutonic group. It is true that 
the granite will often appear at the surface of the Earth ; 
but wherever there is a series of rocks piled one above the 
other, the granite will always be the lowest. This assertion 
is based on two broad facts ; first, whenever we get to the 
bottom of the other rocks, they are always found to rest on 
granite; and secondly, no other rock has ever yet been 
found beneath it. From this circumstance granite is con- 
ceived to be the solid foundation of the Earth's Crust, and 
so is often called fundamental granite. Above the granite 
the Aqueous Rocks have been slowly spread out layer by 
layer during the long lapse of ages, now in this part of the 
world, now in that, according as each in its turn was exposed 
to the action of water. The Volcanic Rocks do not occur 
in any fixed order of succession. They are distributed irreg- 



38 Relative Position of Rocks. 

ularly over almost every country of the globe, occurring 
sometimes in the form of cone-shaped mountains, some- 
times in the form of stately pillars, and sometimes in the 
form of massive solid walls, called Dykes, forced right 
through the softer Aqueous Rocks, which were deposited 
on the surface of the Earth before the eruption. As to the 
Metamorphic Rocks, which are supposed to owe their pecu- 
liar character to the contact of molten mineral matter, 
wherever they occur, they are found in the immediate 
neighborhood of some Igneous Rock. 

The condition of the Earth beneath its thin external crust 
has never been the subject of direct observation ; for Geol- 
ogists have never yet been able to penetrate below the 
granite rocks. Nevertheless, this subject has been often 
discussed, and has offered a wide field for philosophical 
speculation. Upon one point all are agreed, that within 
the Crust of the Earth an intense heat very generally pre- 
vails ; — a heat so intense that it would be quite sufficient, 
acting under ordinary circumstances, to reduce all known 
rocks to a state of igneous fusion. Hence it was a common 
opinion among the older Geologists that the condition of 
our globe is that of a vast central nucleus composed of 
molten mineral, and covered over with a comparatively thin 
external shell of solid rock. The most eminent Geologists, 
however, of the present day, hesitate to accept this opinion. 
They observe : ( i ) That we have not yet learned what the 
material is of which the interior of the Earth is composed ; 
therefore we cannot tell for certain what degree of heat is 
sufficient to reduce that material to a liquid state. (2) It is 
uncertain how far the immense pressure at great depths 
may operate to keep matter in a solid state, everi when 
raised to a very high degree of 'temperature. (3) There 
are certain astronomical and physical difficulties involved 
in this theor}', which have not yet been fully cleared up. 
Modern Geologists, therefore, proceeding with more cau- 



upheaval and Subsidence. 39 

tion than their predecessors, while they regard the opinion 
as probable, refuse to set it down as conclusively demon- 
strated. But, that a very high temperature prevails in the 
interior of our globe, is a conclusion, they say, which is 
established by abundant evidence, and which may be re- 
garded as morally certain. 

It may be asked how the various strata of Aqueous Rocks, 
which constitute the chief portion of the; Earth's Crust, have 
been lifted up above the level of the sea ; for, according to 
our theory, they were all first deposited under water. This 
is a question that must inevitably occur to the mind of every 
reader, and Geologists are ready with an answer. They tell 
us that from the earliest ages the Crust of the Earth has been 
subject to disturbance and dislocation. At various times 
and in various places it was upheaved, and what had been 
before the bed of the ocean became dry land ; again it sunk 
below its former level, and what had been before dry land 
became the bed of the ocean. Thus, in the former case a 
new stratum which had been deposited at the bottom of the 
sea, with all its varied remains of a bygone age, was con- 
verted for a season into the surface of the Earth, and be- 
came the theatre of animal and vegetable life : while in 
the latter case, the old surface of the Earth with its countless 
tribes of animals and plants, — \is /aufia dind flora as they 
are called, — was submerged beneath the waters, there to re- 
ceive in its turn the broken up fragments of a former world, 
deposited in the form of mud, or sand, or pebbles, or 
minute particles of lime. Nor is this all ; it is but a single 
link in the chain of Geological chronology. We are asked 
to believe that, in many parts of the globe, this upward and 
downward movement has been going on alternately for un- 
numbered ages ; so that the very same spot which was first 
the bed of the ocean, was afterw-ard dry land, then the bot- 
tom of an estuary or inland lake, then perhaps once more 
the floor of the sea, and then dry land again : and further- 



40 Of the EartJi s Crust, 

more we are assured that, while it remained in each one of 
these various conditions, thousands and thousands of years 
may have rolled away. 

But from what source does that mighty power come 
which can thus upheave the solid Earth, and banish the 
ocean from its bed ? We are told in reply that this giant 
power dwells in the interior of the Earth itself, and is no 
other than the subterranean heat of which we have already 
spoken. This vast internal fire acts with unequal force 
upon different parts of the shell or Crust of the Earth, up- 
lifting it in one place, and in another allowing it to subside.- 
Now it is violent and convulsive, bursting asunder the solid 
rocks, and shaking the foundations of the hills : again it is 
gende and harmless, upheaving vast continents with a 
scarcely perceptible undulation, not unlike the long, silent 
swell of the ocean. So it has been from the beginning, 
and so it is found to be even now, in this last age of the 
Geological Calendar. For even within historic times moun- 
tains have been suddenly upheaved from the level plain ; 
and many parts of the Earth's Crust have been subject to a 
slow, wave-like movement, rising here and subsiding there, 
at the rate of perhaps a few feet in a century. Sometimes, 
too, the fiery liquid itself has burst its barriers, a-nd poured 
its destructive streams of molten rock far down into the 
peaceful, smiling valleys. 

This theory of an internal disturbing force, which from 
time to time produces elevations and depressions of the 
Earth's Crust, serves to explain another phenomenon, that 
cannot fail to have struck even the least observant eye. 
The Aqueous Rocks of mechanical formation are said to 
have been composed of mrinute fragments, which were first 
held suspended in water, and afterward fell to the bottom. 
If this be true, it follows that these rocks, in the first period 
of their existence, must have been arranged in beds parallel 
to the horizon, or nearly so. But we now find them, as 



Disturbance of Strata, 41 

everybody knows, in a great variety of positions : some- 
times they are parallel to the horizon, sometimes inclined to 
it, sometimes at right angles to it ; sometimes, too, they are 
broken right across, sometimes curved and twisted after a 
very fantastic fashion. Now, all these appearances are the 
natural results of an upheaving force acting irregularly from 
below on the solid shell of the Earth. When the subter- 
ranean fire is brought to bear equally at the same time on a 
broad extent of surface, then the overlying strata are bodily 
lifted up, and preserve their horizontal position. But when 
the whole force acts with local intensity on a very contracted 
area, then, at that particular spot, the rocks above will be 
tilted up, and their position entirely changed. Sometimes 
they will be only bent and crushed together, sometimes dis- 
located and turned over ; sometimes, perhaps, a mountain 
will be formed, and the rocks before parallel to the horizon, 
will afterward remain parallel to the slopes of the mountain. 
There is another process known by the name of Denuda- 
tion, which we cannot pass over in silence, for it occupies 
a very important place in the Natural History of our globe. 
Since time first began Denudation has been ever going on 
at the surface of the Earth, and it has left its mark more or 
less distinctly upon every group of rocks, from the lowest to 
the highest. It includes all the various operations by which 
the old existing rocks are broken up into fragments, or 
ground into powder, or worn away by friction, or dissolved 
by chemical action, and then transported from their former 
site to' become the elements of new strata. Hence the 
name Denudation ; since by these operations the former 
surface of the Earth is carried away and a surface before 
covered is laid bare. The amount of destruction effected 
by this process in each successive age is always equal to the 
bulk of Aqueous Rocks formed within the same time. 
This will be at once understood when we remember that 
the Aqueous Rocks are produced, for the most part, by the 



42 Process of Denudation, 

deposition of sediment ; and sediment is nothing else than 
the fragments, more or less minute, of pre-existing rocks. 
What is deposited on the bed of the ocean has been taken 
from tlie surface of the land ; and the new strata are built 
up from the ruins of the old. When we see a great build- 
ing of stone towering aloft to the sky, we are certain that 
somewhere else on the Earth a quarry has been opened, 
and that the amount of excavation in the quarry is exactly 
represented by the bulk of solid masonry in the building. 
Just in the same way,, the mass of Aqueous Rocks is at once 
the monument and the measure of previous Denudation. 

The process of Denudation is the work of many and vari- 
ous natural causes. Heat and cold, rain, hail, and snow, 
chemical affinities, the atmosphere itself, all have a share in 
it ; but the largest share belongs to the mechanical action 
of moving water. Every little rill that flows down the 
mountain side is charged with finely-powdered sediment 
which it is ever wearing away from the surface of its own 
bed. Every great stream, besides the immense quantities 
of mud and sand which in times of flood it carries along 
in its turbulent course, has its channel strewn over with 
pebbles at which it never ceases to work, rounding off the 
angles and polishing the surfaces ; and these pebbles, what 
are they but the fragments of old rocks and the elements of 
new, — -the rubble-stone of Nature's edifice on its way from 
the quarry to the building .? Then there are those mighty 
rivers, such as the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Mississippi, 
the Nile, the Ganges, discharging into the sea day by day 
their vast freight of mineral matter, millions of cubic feet in 
bulk, and thousands upon thousands of tons in weight. 
Often this ponderous volume of mud or sand is carried far 
out to sea by the action of currents, but sometimes it is 
deposited near the shore, forming what is called a Delta, 
and exhibiting an admirable example of stratified rock in 
the earliest stage of its existence. Lastly, we have to notice 



Buried Relics of the Past, 43 

the giant power of the great ocean itself, acting with untiring 
energies on the coasts of continents and islands all over 
the world, excavating and undermining cliffs, rolling huge 
rocks hither and thither, and spreading out the divided 
fragments in a new order at the bottom of the sea. 

To apprehend fully the magnitude of the effects which 
may fairly be ascribed to this last-mentioned power, we must 
remember that, according to Geological theory, almost 
every portion of the Earth's Crust has been more than once 
lifted up above the surface of the ocean, and afterward 
depressed below it. It is believed that this alternate rising 
and sinking was effected very often, perhaps most com- 
monly, not by sudden convulsions, but rather by slow or 
gradual movements. Now, during this process, as the land 
was emerging from the waters or sinking beneath them, 
new surfaces would be presented in each succeeding century 
to the force of the ocean currents and the erosive action of 
the breakers ; and it is not difficult to conceive that the 
accumulated ruins produced, in a long lapse of time, by 
destructive agefits so powerful, so untiring, so universal, 
may have readily furnished the materials for a very large 
proportion of the Aqueous Rocks now in existence. 

Hitherto we have considered the Crust of the Earth as a 
great structure slowly reared up by the hand of Nature ; we 
have spoken of the Rocks that compose it, of their origin 
and history, of the order in which they are disposed, and of 
the various agencies that have been at work to mould them 
into their present form and feature. We have now to con- 
template this marvellous structure under a new aspect ; for 
we are told by Geologists that it is a vast sepulchre, within 
which lie entombed the remains of life that has long since 
passed away. Each series of strata is but a new range of 
tombs ; and each tomb has a story of its .own. Here a gi- 
gantic monster is disclosed to view, compared to which the 
largest beast that now roams through the forest is puny in 



44 Vahie and Significance 

form and contemptible in strength : there, within a narrow 
space, millions of minute animal frames are found closely 
compacted together, each so small that its existence can 
be detected only by the aid of a powerful microscope. In 
one place whole skeletons are found almost entire, embed- 
ded in the bosom of the solid rock; in another, we have 
a boundless profusion of bones and shells ; and again 
in another, neither the skeleton itself appears, nor yet its 
scattered bones, but simply the imprint of footsteps once 
left upon the sandy beach, and still remaining engraved on 
the stone into which the fine sand has been converted 
chiefly by the agency of pressure. There is no scarcity of 
relics in this wonderful charnel-house of Nature. For 
half a century the work of plunder has been going on 
without relaxation or remorse ; the tombs have been yield- 
ing up their dead ; every city in the civilized world has 
filled its museums, and the cabinets of private collectors 
are overflowing : but the spoils that have hitherto been 
carried away seem to bear a very small proportion to those 
which yet remain behind. 

These remains of animals and plants embedded in the 
Crust of the Earth are called Fossils ; and Geologists main- 
tain that the Fossils preserved in each group of strata 
represent the animals and plants that flourished on the 
surface of the Earth, or in the waters of the ocean, when 
that group of strata was in process of formation. There 
they lived, and there they died, and there they were buried, 
in the sand, or the shingle, or the mud that came down 
from the waters above. Their descendants, however, still 
lived on, and new forms of life were called into being by 
the voice of the Omnipotent Creator,' making, as it were, 
a connecting link between the new age of the world that 
was coming in and the old one that was passing away. 
But they, too, died and found a tomb beneath the wa- 
ters ; for Nature, with unexhausted energies, was still 



Of Fossil Remains, 45 

busy collecting materials from the old rocks, and building 
up the new. And so that age passed away like the former, 
and another came ; and every age was represented by its 
own group of strata; and each group of strata was, in its 
turn, covered over with a new deposit ; and the tombs 
were all sealed up, with their countless legions of dead, 
their massive monuments of stone, their strange hieroglyphic 
inscriptions. At length came the last stage of the world's 
history, and man appeared upon the scene ; and it is his 
privilege to descend into this wonderful sepulchre, and to 
wander about amidst the monuments, and to strive to read 
the inscriptions. In our own days more especially, eagei 
and enthusiastic students are abroad over the whole face 
of the globe, and are gathering together from every country 
the Fossil Remains of extinct worlds. By the aid of 
Natural History they seek to assign to each its own proper 
place in the ranks of creation ; to trace the rise, the prog- 
ress, and the extinction of every species in its turn ; and 
even to describe the nature and the character of all the 
various forms of life that have dwelt upon the Earth from 
the beginning. 

Such is the theory of Geology as expounded at the pres- 
ent day by its most able and popular advocates. We have 
passed over a multitude of minor details that we might not • 
wear}' our readers, and we have kept aloof from disputed 
points that we might not get entangled in a purely scientific 
controversy. Our object has simply been to gather together 
into a systematic form those more general conclusions 
which, however startling they may seem to practical men 
of the world, and even to many of those whose minds have 
been accustomed to the pursuit of science in other depart- 
ments, are nevertheless regarded as certain by all who have 
devoted their lives to the study of Geology. It now remains 
to investigate the facts on which these conclusions are 
based, and to consider the line of argument by which so 



4-6 Fro7n Theory to Fact. 

many able and earnest men have been led to accept them. 
In this vast field of inquiry we shall chiefly direct our 
attention to those points that bear upon the Antiquity 
of the Earth ; and in attempting to bring home to our 
readers the nature and the force of Geological reasoning, 
we shall confine ourselves altogether to simple and familia: 
illustrations. 




CHAPTER 11. 



THEORY OF DENUDATION ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS. 



Principle of reasoning common to all the physical sciences — 
This principle applicable to Geology — Carbonic acid an agent 
of denudation — Vast quantity of lime dissolved by the 
waters of the Rhine and borne away to the German ocean — 
Disi?itegration of rocks by frost — Professor Tyndall on the 
Matterhorn — Running water — Its erosive power — An active 
and unceasing agent of denudation — Mineral sediment car- 
ried out to sea by the Ganges and other great rivers — Solid 
rocks underini7ied and worn away — Falls of the Clyde at 
Lanark — Excavating power of rivers in Auvergne and 
Sicily — Falls of Niagara — Transporting power of running 
water — Floods in Scotland — Inundation in the valley of 
Baornes in Switzerla7id» 




N the physical sciences it is a common principle of 
reasoning to account for the phenomena that come 
before us in nature, by the operation of natural 
causes which we know to exist. Nay, this principle seems 
to be almost an instinct of our nature, which guides even 
the least philosophical amidst us, in the common affairs of 
life. When w^e stand amongst the ruins of an ancient 
castle, we feel quite certain that we have before us, not 
alone the monument of Time's destroying power, but also 
the monument of human skill and labor in days gone by. 
We entertain no doubt that ages ago the sound of the ma- 
son's hammer was heard upon these walls, now crowned 



48 Reasoning of Geologists. 

with ivy ; that these moss-grown stones were once hewn fresh 
in the quarry, and piled up one upon another by human 
hands ; and that the building itself was designed by human 
skill, and intended for the purposes of human habitation 
and defence. Or, if we see a footprint in the sand, we 
conclude that a living foot has been there ; and from the 
character of the traces it has left, we judge what was the 
species of animal to which it belonged, whether man, or 
bird, or beast. It is true that God is Omnipotent. He 
might, if it had so pleased Him, have built the old castle 
at the creation of the world, and allowed it to crumble 
slowly into ruins : or he might have built it yesterday, and 
made a ruin begin to be where no castle had stood before ; 
and covered the stones with moss, and mantled the walls in 
iv}^ And as to the footprint in the sand, it were as easy 
for Him to make the impress there, as to make the foot that 
left the impress. All this is true : but yet if any one were 
to argue in this style against us, he would fail to shake our 
convictions ; we should still unhesitatingly believe that hu- 
man hands once built the castle, and that a living foot once 
trod the shore. 

Now, this principle of reasoning is the foundation on 
.which the ablest modern Geologists claim to build their 
science. The untiring hand of Nature is ever busy around 
us : they ask us to come and look at her works, and to 
judge of what she has done in past ages, by that which she 
is now doing before our eyes. She is still, they say, build- 
ing up her strata all over the globe, of limestone, and sand- 
stone, and clay ; she is still lifting up in one place the bed 
of the ocean, and in another submerging the dry land ; she 
is still bursting open the. Crust of the Earth by the action of 
internal fire, disturbing and tilting up the horizontal strata ; 
she is still upheaving her mountains and scooping out 
her valleys. All these operations are open to our inspec- 
tion ; we may go forth and stud}^ them for ourselves : we 



Reasoning of Geologists. 49 

may examine the works that are wrought, and we may dis- 
cover, too, the causes by which they are produced. And 
if it should appear that a very close analogy exists between 
these works that are now coming into existence, and the 
long series of works that are piled up in the Crust of the 
Earth, it is surely not unreasonable to refer the latter class 
of phenomena to the action of the same natural causes 
which we know to have produced the former. 

It cannot be denied that this argument is deserving of a 
fair and candid consideration. Let us proceed, then, to 
examine how far it is founded on fact, and how far it can 
be justly applied to the various heads of Geological theory. 
We will commence with the origin and history of Stratified 
Rocks ; for this constitutes, in a manner, the framework on 
which the whole system of Geology is supported and held 
together. It is alleged that the elements of which Stratified 
Rocks are composed are but the broken fragments and 
minute atoms of pre-existing rocks, carried off by the agents 
of Denudation, and spread out over some distant area in 
regular beds or layers ; which, in progress of ages, were 
slowly consolidated into rocks of various quality and tex- 
ture. With the view of testing this theory by the light of 
the principle just explained, we purpose, in the first place, 
to exhibit some examples of the many forms in which the 
process of Denudation is going on at the present day all 
over the world ; and afterward, to show that out of the 
materials thus obtained Stratified Rocks of every descrip- 
tion — ;Mechanical, Chemical, Organic — are being regularly 
built up in sundry places ; and that these correspond in 
every essential feature with the Stratified Rocks in the Crust 
of the Earth. 

Among the chemical agents of Denudation, there is none 
more widely diff'used than Carbonic acid gas. It is every- 
where given out by dead animal and vegetable matter dur- 
ing the process of putrefaction ; it is plentifully evolved 

Z ■ 



5o Decomposition of Granite. 

from springs in every country; and it is emitted in 
enormous quantities from the earth in all volcanic districts, 
as well those in which the volcanoes are now extinct as 
those in which they are active. Now, it is well known from 
observation, that carbonic acid has the property of decom- 
posing many of the hardest rocks, especially those in which 
felspar is an ingredient. This phenomenon is exhibited on 
a large scale in the ancient volcanic district of Auvergne, in 
central France. The carbonic acid, which is abundantly 
evolved from the earth, penetrates the crevices and pores 
of the solid granite, which being unable to resist its de- 
composing action, is rapidly crumbling to pieces. This 
mysterious decay of hard rock has been happily called by 
Dolomieu, "la maladie du granite."* 

Again, all the water which flows over the surface of the 
land is highly charged with carbonic acid. The rain im- 
bibes it in falling through the atmosphere ; and the rivers 
receive still further accessions from the earth as they pursue 
their course to the sea. In this combination we discover 
a powerful agent of Denudation ; for limestone rock will 
be dissolved by water which is impregnated with carbonic 
acid. Thus all the rivers and streams in 'the world; when 
they flow through a limestone channel, are constandy dis- 
solving the solid rock and bearing away the elements of 
which it is composed. A single example will be suflicient 
to show the magnitude of the results which are thus pro- 
duced. It has been calculated by Bischof, a celebrated 
German chemist, that the carbonate of lime which is carried 
each year to the sea by the waters of the Rhine, is suflicient 
for the formation of 32,000,000,000 of oyster shells ; or, to 
view the matter in another light, it would be suflicient. to 
produce a stratum of limestone one foot thick, and four 
square miles in extent, f If such be the yearly produce of 

* See LyelFs Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp. 411-413, 
t See Jukes, The Student's Manual of Geology, p. 125. 



Frost, an Agent of Denudation, 5 1 

one river, how great must be the accumulated effects of all 
the rivers in the world since our planet first came from the 
hand of its Creator ! 

Passing from the chemical to the mechanical agents of 
Denudation, it is worth while to notice the immense power 
which is often generated by the agency of frost, especially 
in those countries that are subject to great vicissitudes of 
heat and cold. During a thaw, water finds its way into the 
clefts and joints by which all rocks are traversed, and when 
it is afterward converted into ice, it expands with a mechan- 
ical force that is almost irresistible. The hardest rocks are 
burst asunder, great blocks are detached from the mountain 
side, and sent rolling down its slopes, or tumbling over 
crags and precipices, until at length they come to rest in 
shattered fragments at the bottom of the valley. In this 
condition they await but the coming of the winter's torrent 
to be borne still further on their long journey to the sea. 

The fearful havoc done in this way by the alternate action 
of sun and frost contributes in no small degree to the fan- 
tastic and picturesque forms assumed by the mountain peaks 
of Switzerland. Huge masses of rock have been literally 
hewn away, until nothing has remained behind but those 
splintered obelisks and tapering pinnacles so familiar to the 
eye amidst the sublime scenery of the Alps. Indeed one of 
the greatest perils encountered by the adventurous spirits 
whose ambition it is to rival one another in the danger of 
their exploits, and to climb whatever was before regarded as 
inaccessible, arises from the enormous fragments of rock 
which are rent almost unceasingly from the overhanging 
crags and hurled into the abysses below them. The follow- 
ing incident related by Professor Tyndall is very much to 
the point. "We had gathered up our things, and bent to 
the work before us, when suddenly an explosion occurred 
overhead. Looking aloft, in mid-air was seen a solid shot 
from the Matterhorn describing its proper parabola through 



52 P^'ofessor Tyndall on the Matter ho? 



71, 



the air. It split to pieces as it hit one of the rock-towers 
below, and its fragments came down in a kind of spray, 
which fell wide of us, but still near enough to compel a 
sharp look out. Two or three such explosions occurred 
afterward, but we crept along the back fin of the moun- 
tain, from which the falling boulders were speedily de- 
flected right and left. *' 

This occurred in 1862, on the occasion of an unsuccess- 
ful attempt to reach the highest peak of the Matterhorn. 
Six years later, when Professor Tyndall at length actually 
accomplished the object on which he seems to have set his 
hean, he found the work of destruction still going on. 
'* We were now," he says in his narrative, " beside a snow- 
gully, which was cut by a deep furrow along its centre, and 
otherwise scarred by~the descent of stones. Here each 
man arranged his bundle and himself so as to cross the 
gully in the minimum of time. The passage was safely 
made, a few flying shingle only coming down upon us. 
But danger declared itself where it was not expected. Jo- 
seph Maquignas led the way up the rocks. I was next, 
Pierre Maquignas next, and last of all the porters. Sud- 
denly a yell issued from the leader: 'Cachez vo-us !' I 
crouched instinctively against the rock, which formed a by 
no means perfect shelter, when a boulder buzzed past me 
through the air, smote the rocks below me, and with a sav- 
age hum flew down to the lower glacier."* 

Even in our own country, every one is familiar with the 
efficacy of frozen water in producing landslips. The rain 
which soaks into the ground in winter, is converted into ice 
when frost sets in ; and upon steep slopes or precipices, its 
expansive power bursts open the earth, and causes large 
masses of stones and clay to tumble headlong to the bottom. 

But moving water constitutes the most powerful, and, at 

* Professor Tyndall, Odds and Ends of Alpine Life. 



Moving Water, 53 

the same time, the most universal agent of Denudation. 
And it is chiefly to the effects of moving water that we 
mean to direct attention ; because its action is more striking 
to the eye, and more easily understood by the general 
reader. Every one is aware that the waters of the ocean 
are constandy passing off by evaporation into the higher 
regions of the atmosphere, and are there condensed into 
clouds. These clouds in course of time descend upon all 
parts of the earth, but especially on the high and moun- 
tainous districts. Then rivulets are formed which flow 
smoothly down the gentle slopes of the undulating country, 
or plunge headlong over the rocky mountain cliffs ; and 
the rivulets uniting form streams, and the streams, receiving 
new tributaries as they advance, become rivers ; and the 
rivers flow on to the sea, and discharge each day and each 
hour their enormous volumes of water back again into the 
ocean from which they came. Thus all the water of the 
world is constantly in motion, ever hurrying on, as it were, 
in one unending round of duty. This is the teaching of 
daily experience and observadon. And we may add, it is 
the teaching of Sacred Scripture as well. The Wise Man 
said long ago : "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea 
doth not overflow : unto the place from whence the rivers 
come, thither they return to flow again."* 

Now, the power of this moving water is a mighty wide- 
spread agent of change in the physical condition of the 
globe. For wherever water is in motion over the surface 
of the land, whether it be a rippling stream, or a mountain 
torrent, or a majestic river, it is surely wearing away the 
channel through which it flows, and carrying along in its 
course particles of clay, or sand, or gravel. This subject 
is illustrated with great force and great simplicity by Mr. 
Page. "Every person," he says, "must have obseived 

* Ecclesiastes, i. 7 



54 Agent of Dejzudation. 

the rivers in his own district, how they become muddy and 
turbid during floods of rain, and how their swollen currents 
eat away the banks, deepen the channels, and sweep away 
the sand and gravel down to some lower level. And if, 
during this turbid state, he will have the curiosity to lift a 
gallon of the water, and allow it to settle, he will be aston- 
ished at the amount of sediment or solid matter that falls 
to the bottom. Now, let him multiply this gallon by the 
number of gallons daily carried down by the river, and this 
day by years and centuries, and he will arrive at some faint 
idea of the quantity of matter worn from the land by rivers, 
and deposited by them in the ocean. In the same way as 
one river grinds and cuts for itself a channel, so does every 
stream and rill and current of water. The rain as it falls 
washes away what the winds and frosts have loosened ; the 
rill takes it up, and, mingling it with its own burden, gives 
it to the stream ; the stream takes it up and carries it to the 
river, and the river bears it to the ocean."* 

When the current is feeble, the greater part of this earthy 
material is thrown down upon the way, and forms a stratum 
of alluvial soil in the bed of the river, and also in the 
adjoining lowlands, during the time of temporary floods. 
But when several streams unite, then the carrying power 
of the current is enormously increased : huge stones are 
rolled along, and dashed one against another, and broken 
into fragments, and the fragments are rounded by friction, 
and become pebbles, and the pebbles become gravel, and 
the gravel, mud ; and the mud is carried on to the mouth 
of the river, and there falling to the bottom, it forms a 
tongue of land which is called a delta ; or else perhaps it 
chances to meet with some great ocean current, and then it 
begins a new journey, and is borne far away to be deposited 
in the profound and tranquil depths of the sea. It is not, 

* Page, Advanced Text-Book of Geology, p. 55. 



The River Ganges. 55 

however, mineral matter alone that is transported by the 
action of rivers. Trees that once were growing on the 
banks of the stream, and the bones pf animals, and human 
remains, and works of art, are seen floating down with the 
current, and are found embedded in the sand and mud of 
the delta at the river's mouth. 

These are some of the actual realities which all may wit- 
ness, who will go and study for themselves the history of 
this wonderful element, from the time when it first soars aloft 
as vapor to the sky, until it returns to the bosom of its 
parent ocean laden with the spoils of the land. To some of 
our readers, perhaps, results of this kind may appear insig- 
nificant, when considered in relation to the enormous bulk 
of the stratified rocks. But it should be remembered that 
the force of which we speak is unceasing in its operation 
over the whole surface of the earth ; and even though the 
work were small which is accomplished in each successive 
year, the accumulated effects produced in a lengthened 
period of time must be immensely great. Besides, it would 
be a very serious error to form our ideas on this subject, as 
many would seem to do, from the examples which are to 
be found within the narrow limits of our own island. We 
should rather seek for our illustrations among those mighty 
rivers that drain the vast continents of the world, and exhibit 
the erosive and transporting power of running water on the 
grandest scale. 

It happens, fortunately for our purpose, that an attempt 
has been made by scientific men to compute the amount 
of matter discharged into the sea, by some particular rivers 
within a given time. For such a computation it is neces- 
sary, in the first place, to calculate the volume of water that 
passes down the channel during that time ; and then, by 
repeated experiments, to ascertain the average proportion 
of earthy matter which is held suspended in the water. 
This has been done with the greatest care by the Rev. Mr. 



56 The Mississippi, 

Everest, in the case of the river Ganges ; and it appears 
that during the rainy season, which lasts four months every 
year, from June to September, about 6,000,000,000 cubic 
feet of mud are carried along by the stream past the town 
of Ghazepoor, near which the observations were made. 
Now this enormous bulk of mineral matter would be suffi- 
cient to form a stratum of rock one foot in height, and two 
hundred and eighteen square miles in extent. Or, to 
adopt the computation of Sir Charles Lyell, the amount 
which passes by every day is equal to that which might be 
transported by 2000 Indiamen, each freighted with a cargo 
of mud 1400 tons in weight. And it is important to 
remember that this estimate represents but a portion of the 
sediment which passes into the sea through the channel of 
the Ganges ; for the observations of Mr. Everest were taken 
at a point which is 500 miles from the sea, and at which 
the river has not yet received the contributions of its largest 
tributaries. 

We are able, therefore, with some degree of confidence, 
to estimate the amount of Denudation which is every year 
effected by the Ganges. And, although the same calcula- 
tions have not yet been applied with equal care' to other 
great rivers, there is no reason to suppose that the Ganges 
is an exception. It is asserted on good grounds that the 
Brahmapootra, which unites with the Ganges close to the 
Bay of Bengal, carries with it an equal amount of earthy 
sediment. According to Sir Charles Lyell, the quantity of 
solid matter brought down each year by the Mississippi 
amounts to 3,702,758,400 cubic feet. And it is said that 
48,000,000 cubic feet of earth are daily discharged into the 
sea by the Yellow River in China, called by the natives the 
Hoang Ho.* Thus year after year the waste of the land is 

*See on this subject, Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. i., p. 458, and 
pp. 480-3 j Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 105-11; Page, Advanced 
Text-Book of Geology, pp. 52-56. 



Massive Rocks Undermined, jj 

carried away by rivers, to be spread out over wide areas of. 
the ocean, and perhaps to furnish the materials of future 
continents. 

The effects of running water in wearing away and trans- 
porting masses of solid rock are not less deserving of our 
notice. Every one who has followed the course of a great 
river when it flows through a rocky channel, must have 
observed large blocks projecting from the cliffs above, 
which, having been undermined by the action of the water, 
seem ready to tumble headlong into the stream ; and others 
lying below, which had fallen before ; and others again 
which had been already carried a considerable distance by 
the winter's torrent. Even where the rocks are not dis- 
placed, they are gradually being worn away, partly by the 
friction of the water, but much more by the grinding action 
of the gravel which the water holds in suspension. Not 
only is the surface of the rocks thus rounded and polished, 
but large circular pits, called pol-hoks, are formed by the 
whirling waters of an eddy carrying round and round a few 
grains of hard sand. 

At the falls of the Clyde near Lanark in Scodand, these 
various phenomena maybe seen to great advantage. Good 
illustrations are to be found also in many volcanic regions. 
Some of the larger streams in Auvergne have in course of 
time forced their way through the solid lava rock, cutting 
out for themselves channels broad and deep. In Sicily too, 
we are told, the river Simeto, whose course was blocked up 
by a current of lava about the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, has since that time eaten its way through this com- 
pact and hardened mass, and now flows on to the sea 
through a rocky passage forty feet in depth and from fifty to 
several hundred feet in width.* 

But there is no part of the world" yet explored where these 
effects are exhibited on the samegigandc scale as at the far- 

* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp, 356-7. 

3-^ 



58 The Falls of Niagara, 

famed Falls of Niagara. The massive limestone rock from 
which the waters are precipitated is slowly but certainly dis- 
appearing. An enormous volume of water, more than a 
third of a mile in breadth, plunges in a single bound over 
a sheer precipice of one hundred and sixty-five feet. The 
soft slaty rocks upon which the limestone rests are soon 
eaten away by the action of the spray which rises from the 
pool below ; and then the overhanging cliffs, left without 
any support, topple over, and are carried off by the torrent. 
The position of the Falls, therefore, is not stationary, but 
is receding by very sensible degrees in the direction of Lake 
Erie, from which the river flows. Speaking of this phe- 
nomenon, Sir Charles Lyell observes with much show of 
reason: " The idea of perpetual and progressive waste is 
constantly present to the mind of every beholder : and as 
that part of the chasm which has been the work of the last 
hundred and fifty years resembles precisely in depth, width, 
and character the rest of the gorge, which extends seven 
miles below, it is most natural to infer, that the entire 
ravine has been hollowed out in the same manner, by the 
recession of the cataract. It must at least be conceded, 
that the river supplies an adequate cause for executing the 
whole task thus assigned to it, provided we grant, sufficient 
time for its completion."* 

With a view to enable our readers to understand more 
fully the prodigious force which rivers have been known to 
exert in the transportation of rocks, it may be useful to 
draw attention to one or two principles of physical science. 
First, we have the well-known law of Archimedes, that a 
solid body immersed in a liquid loses a pari of its weight equal 
to the weight of the liquid displaced. Now. solid rock as com- 
pared with water, bulk for bulk, is rarely more than three 
times, and often not more than twice as heavy. Conse- 

■^ Principles of .Geology, -vol. i., p. 360. 



Rocks Transported by RMmiing Water. 59 

quently, according to this law, almost all rocks will lose a 
third of their weight, and many will lose one-half, when 
immersed in water. Again, it has been established that the 
power of water to move bodies thai are in it increases as the 
sixth power of the velocity of the current. Hence, if the 
velocity of a current is increased two-fold, its moving power 
will be increased sixty four fold ; if the velocity is increased 
threefold, the moving power will be increased seven hundred 
and twenty fold ; and so on. 

From these principles it follows, first, that a much smaller 
power is required to move a block of stone lying in the bed 
of a river, than if it were lying on the surface of the land; 
and secondly, that a very slight increase in the velocity of a 
current effects a very great increase in its moving power. 
We need not wonder, then, when we hear of the enormous 
masses of rocks and trees and mason-work which are car- 
ried away even by small rivers in times of flood.* 

Here are a few examples. In August, 1829, a fragment 
of sandstone, fourteen feet long, three feet wide, and one 
foot thick, was carried by the river Nairn, in Scotland, a 
distance of two hundred yards. On the same occasion the 
river Dee swept away a bridge of five arches, built of solid 
granite, which had stood uninjured for twenty years ; the 
whole mass of masonry sunk into the bed of the stream 
and was seen no more. And the river Don, as we are 
assured on the authority of Mr. Farquharson, forced a mass 
of stones four or five hundred tons in weight up a steep in- 
clined plane, leaving them in a great rectangular heap on 
the summit. A small rivulet called the College, in North- 
umberland, when swollen by a flood in August, 1827, "tore 
away from the abutment of a mill-dam a large block of 
greenstone-porphyry weighing nearly two tons, and trans- 

* See Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 108-10 ; Hopkins, Presidential 
Address to the Geological Society of London, 1852, p. xxvii. 



6o Flood in the Valley of B agues, 

ported it to the distance of a quarter of a mile."* Bat it is 
needless to multiply examples of phenomena which are 
occurring every day around ns, and of which many among 
our readers have probably been eye-witnesses. 

The transporting power of rivers must not always be esti- 
mated by the bulk and velocity of the current; for it is often 
greatly increased by some accidental obstruction, which for 
a time blocks up the channel through which the river flows. 
An instructive illustration is afforded by the river Dranse, 
which flows through the valley of Bagnes, in Switzerland, 
and empties itself into the Rhone above the lake of Geneva. 
In the year 1 8 1 8 the avalanches which fell down from the 
mountain side formed a barrier across the valley, and thus 
eff'ectually blocked up the course of the stream. The upper 
part of the valley was, in consequence, soon converted into 
a lake which gradually increased in size as the season ad- 
vanced. When summer came, and the melting of the 
snows began, the ice barrier suddenly gave way with a tre- 
mendous crash, and the lake was emptied in half an hour. 
The mass of water, thus in a moment disengaged, burst 
with destructive violence over the lower valley, sweeping 
away rocks, forests, houses, bridges, and cultivated lands. 
Thousands of trees were torn up by the roots, fragments of 
granite as large as houses were rolled along, and the whole 
flood presented the appearance of a moving mass of ruins. 

* For these facts see Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp. 349, 350 ; 
Quarterly Journal of Science, No. xiii., New Series j The English Cyclo- 
paedia, Natural History Division, Alluvium. 



CHAPTER III. 



THEORY OF DENUDATION FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 



6 



The breakers of the ocean — Caverns and fairy bridges of 
Kilkee — Italy a?id Sicily — The Shetland Islands — East and 
sotith coast of Britain — Tracts of land swallowed up by the 
sea — Island of Heligoland — Northstrand — Tides and cur- 
rents — South Atlantic curreiit — Equatorial current — The 
Gulf Stream — Its course described — Examples of its power 
as an agent of transport. 

HILE the rain, the rivers, and the streams, are 
thus wasting away the mountains and plains of the 
interior country, the waves of the sea are exerting 
a power no less destructive on the coasts of islands and of 
continents. The breakers dashing against the foot of a 
lofty cliff, dissolve and decompose and wear away the lower 
strata ; and the overhanging rocks, thus undermined, fall 
down in course of time by their own weight. With the 
next returning wave these rocks are themselves hurled 
back against the cliff; and so, as some one has happily 
remarked, the land would seem to supply a powerful artil- 
lery for its own destruction. The effects of the breakers 
are often very unequal, even on the same line of cliffs. 
Some parts of the rock are more yielding than others, or 
perhaps they are more exposed to the action of the waves, 
or perhaps they are divided by larger joints and more freely 
admit the destructive element. These parts will be the first 



62 Fairy Bridges of Kilkee, 

to give way, while the harder and less exposed rock will be 
left standing : and in this way forms the most capricious 
and fantastic are produced. 

No finer examples could be wished for than those which 
are seen in the neighborhood of Kilkee, and along the 
promontory of Loop Head, in the county of Clare. Some- 
times the ground is undermined with caverns, into which, 
when the tide is coming in, the waves of the Atlantic rush 
with resistless force, making new additions each day to the 
accumulated ruins of ages. Sometimes lofty pinnacles of 
rock are left standing in the midst of the waters, like giant 
sentinels stationed there by Nature to guard the coast. In 
one or two instances these isolated fragments are connected 
with the main land by natural arches of rock, which are 
called fairy bridges by the people ; but more commonly 
they appear as rocky islets, and answer exactly to the poet's 
description — 

^'The roaring tides 
The passage broke that land from land divides ; 



It is interesting to observe in passing, that, in the original 
verses of the^neid, of which these lines are Dryden's trans- 
lation, Virgil has recorded a belief which prevailed in his 
time, and which, upon scientific grounds, is now regarded 
as highly probable by Geologists, that the island of Sicily 
had been once connected by land with Italy, and was sepa- 
rated from it by the action of the waves : 

*' Haec loca, vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina, 
Tantum sevi longinqua valet miitare vetustas ! 
Dissiluisse ferunt, quum' protenus utfaque tellus 
Una foret; venit medio vi pontus et undis 
Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaqiie et urbes 
Litore deductas angusto interluit aesta." 

^neid, iii,, 414-19. 



The Shetland Islands, 



63 



But whatever may be thought of this opinion thus ren- 
dered immortal by the genius of the poet, we shall not stop 
to discuss its merits. For in the present stage of our argu- 
ment, it is our object to deal, not with vague and uncertain 
traditions, nor even with philosophical speculations, but 
rather with the facts which are actually going on in nature, 
and which any one of our readers may examine for himself. 
With this object in view, we shall take a few examples from 
the Eastern and Southern coasts of Great Britain, which 
have been carefully explored by scientific men for the pur- 
pose of observing and recording the amount of destruction 
accomplished by the waves within recent times. 




Fig. I. — Granitic rocks to the south of Hillswick Ness, Shetland. 
From Lyell's Principles of Geology. 



The Shetland Islands, exposed to the whole fury of the 
Atlantic, present many phenomena not unlike those of Kil- 
kee and Loop Head, but upon a far grander scale. Whole 
islands have been swept away by the resistless power of the 
waters, and of others nothing remains but massive pillars 
of hard rock, which have been well described as rising up 
"like the ruins of Palmyra in the desert of the ocean." 



64 Encroachinents of the Sea. 

Passing to the mainland, it is recorded that in the year 
1795 a village in Kincardineshire was carried away in a 
single night, and the sea advanced a hundred and fifty yards 
inland, where it has ever since maintained its ground. In 
England, almost the whole coast of Yorkshire is undergoing 
constant dilapidation. On the south side of Flamborough 
Head the cliffs are receding at an average rate of two yards 
and, a quarter in the year, for a distance of thirty-six miles 
along the coast. This would amount to a mile since the 
Norman Conquest, and to more than two miles since the 
occupation of York by the Romans. It is not surprising, 
therefore, to learn that many spots marked in the old maps 
of the country as the sites of towns or villages, are now 
sandbanks in the sea. Even places of historic name have 
not been spared. The town of Ravenspur, from which, in 
1332, Edward Baliol sailed for the invasion of Scotland, 
and at which Henry the Fourth landed in 1399, to claim 
the throne of England, has long since been swallowed up 
by the devouring efement. 

On the coast of Norfolk it was calculated, at the beg-in- 
ning of the present century, that the mean loss of the land 
was something less than one yard in the year. The inn at 
Sherringham was built on this calculation in 1805, and it 
was expected to stand for seventy years. But unfortunately 
the actual advance of the sea exceeded the calculation. Sir 
Charles Lyell, who visited this spot in 1829, relates that dur- 
ing the five preceding years seventeen yards of the cliff had 
been swept away, and nothing but a small garden was then 
left between the building and the sea. The same distin- 
guished writer tells us that in the harbor of this town there 
was at that time water sufficient to float a frigate where forty- 
eight years before had stood a cliff fifty feet in height with 
houses built upon it. And remarking upon these facts, he 
says, that "if once in half a century an equal amount of 
change were produced suddenly by the momentary shock 



Encroachments of the Sea, 65 

of an earthquake, history would be filled with records of 
such wonderful revolutions of the earth's surface ; but if 
the conversion of high land into' deep sea be gradual, it 
excites only local attention." 

In the neighborhood of Dunwich, once the most consid- 
erable seaport on the coast of Suffolk, the cliffs have been 
wasting away from an early period of history. "Two 
tracts of land which had been taxed in the time .of King 
Edward the Confessor, are mentioned in the Conqueror's 
survey, made but a few years afterward, as having been 
devoured by the sea." And the memory of other losses in 
the town itself — including a monastery, several churches, 
the town-hall, the jail, and many hundred houses — together 
with the dates of their occurrence, is faithfully preserved in 
authentic records. In 1740 the sea reached the churchyard 
of Saint Nicholas and Saint Francis, so that the graves, the 
coffins, and the skeletons, were exposed to view on the face 
of the cliffs. Since that time the coffins, and the tomb- 
stones, and the churchyard itself, have disappeared beneath 
the waves. Nothing now remains of this once flourishing 
and populous city but the name alone, which is still at- 
tached to a little village of about twenty houses. The spot 
on which the Church of Reculver stands, near the mouth 
of the Thames, was a mile inland in the reign of Henry 
the Eighth ; in the year 1834 it was overhanging the sea ; 
and it would long ago have been demolished, but for an 
artificial causeway of stones constructed with a view to 
break the force of the waves. It is estimated that the land 
on the northeast coast of Kent is receding at the rate of 
about two feet in the year. The promontory of Beachy 
Head in Sussex is also rapidly falling away. In the year 
1 8 13 an enormous mass of chalk, three hundred feet in- 
length and eighty in breadth, came down with a tremendous 
crash ; and slips of the same kind have often occurred, both 
before and since. 



66 Encroachments of the Sea, 

To these examples from Great Britain we may add one 
or two from the German Ocean. Seven islands have com- 
pletely disappeared within a very narrow area since the time 
of Pliny ; for he counted twenty-three between Texel and 
the mouth of the Eider, whereas now there are but sixteen. 
The island of Heligoland, at the mouth of the Elbe, has 
been for ages subject to great dilapidation. Within the 
last five hundred years three-fourths of it have been carried 
away; and since 1770 the fragment that remains has been 
divided into two parts by a channel which is at present nav- 
igable for large ships. A still more remarkable instance of 
destruction effected by the waves of the sea occurred in the 
island of Northstrand, on the coast of Schleswig. Previous 
to the thirteenth century it was attached to the mainland, 
forming a part of the continent of Europe, and was a 
highly cultivated and populous district about ten miles 
long, and from six to eight broad. In the year 1240 it was 
cut off from the coast of Schleswig by an inroad of the sea, 
and it gradually wasted away up to the seventeenth century, 
when its entire circumference was sixteen geographical 
miles. Even then the industrious inhabitants, — about nine 
thousand in number, — endeavored to save what remained 
of their territory by the erection of lofty dykes ; but on the 
eleventh of October, 1634, the whole island was over- 
whelmed by another invasion of the sea, in which 6000 peo- 
ple perished, and 50,000 head of cattle. Three small islets 
are all that now remain of this once fertile district.* 

The breakers of the ocean receive no small aid in their 

* For these facts illustrating the destructive action of the waves of the 
sea we are chiefly indebted to the following authorities : Hibbert, Descrip- 
tion of the Shetland Isles ; Phillips, Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of ■ 
Yorkshire j Geology of Yorkshire, by the same author ; Pennant's Arctic 
Zoology, vol. i. ; Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. i., chapters xx. an<J 
xxi. ; Gardner's History of the Borough of Dunwich j the English Cyclo- 
paedia, Alluvium. 

'3 



Tides and Currents. 67 

work of destruction from the action of tides and currents 
which co-operate with the winds to keep the waters of the 
sea in constant motion. And though the winds may sleep 
for a time, the tides and currents are always actively at work, 
and never for a moment cease to wear away the land. But 
they are even more powerful auxiliaries as agents of trans- 
port. If it were not for them, the ruins which fall from the 
rocks to-day would to-morrow form a barrier against the 
waves, and the work of destruction would cease. But Na- 
ture has ordained it otherwise. When the tide advances, it 
rolls the broken fragments toward the land, and when it 
recedes, it carries them back to the deep ; and so by unceas- 
ing friction these fragments are worn away to pebbles, and 
then, being more easily transported, they are carried off to 
sea and deposited in the bed of the ocean : or else, perhaps, 
they are cast up on the sloping shore, to form what is so 
familiar to us all under the name of a shingle-beach. 

This is a subject on which it is needless to enlarge. 
Every one knows that the tides have the power of transport- 
ing solid matter ; though most of us, perhaps, do not fully 
appreciate the magnitude of their accumulated effects, work- 
ing as they do with untiring energies upon the coasts of 
islands and continents all over the world. It is not, how- 
ever, so generally known that the ocean is traversed in all 
directions by powerful currents, which, from their regularity, 
their permanence, and their extent, have been aptly called 
the rivers of the ocean. We do not mean here to inquire 
into the causes of these currents, upon which the progress 
of physical science has thrown considerable light : neither 
can we hope to describe even the principal currents that 
prevail over the vast tracts of water which constitute about 
three-fourths of the entire surface of our globe. We shall 
content ourselves with tracing the course of one great 
system, which may serve to give some idea of their general 
character and enormous power. 



68 The Gtilf Stream. 

This system would seem to have its origin with a stream 
that flows, from the Indian Ocean toward the southwest, 
and then doubling the Cape of Good Hope, turns north- 
ward along the African coast. It is here called the South 
Atlantic Current. When it encounters the shores of Guinea, 
it is diverted to the west, and stretches across the Atlantic, 
traversing forty degrees of longitude until it reaches the 
projecting promontory of Brazil in South America. In this 
part of its course it is known as the Equatorial Current, 
because it follows pretty nearly the line of the Equator : it 
varies in breadth from two hundred to five hundred miles, 
and it travels at the mean rate of thirty miles a day, thougl^ 
sometimes its velocity is increased to seventy or eighty. 
Next, under the name of the Guyana Current, it pursues a 
northwesterly direction, following the line of the coast ; 
and passing close to the island of Trinidad, becomes dif- 
fused, and almost seems to be lost, in the Caribbean Sea. 
Nevertheless, it again issues with renewed energy from the 
Gulf of Mexico, and rushing through the Straits of Florida 
at the rate of four and five miles an hour, it issues once 
more into the broad waters of the Atlantic. From this out 
it is called the Gulf Stream, and is well known to all who 
are concerned in Transatlantic navigation ; for ' it sensibly 
accelerates the speed of vessels which are bound from 
America to Europe, and sensibly retards those sailing from 
Europe to America. 

The Gulf Stream, however, does not set out on its Transat- 
lantic voyage directly that it issues from the Straits of Florida. 
It keeps at first a northeasterly course, following the outline 
of the American continent, passing by New York and Nova 
Scotia, and brushing the southern extremity of the great 
Newfoundland Bank. Then taking leave of the land, it 
sweeps right across the Atlantic. After a time it seems to 
divide into two branches, one inclining to the south, and 
losing itself among the Azores, "the other bending toward 



Ocean Ctir rents. 69 

the north, washing the shores of Ireland, Scotland, Norway, 
and reaching even to the frozen regions of Spitzbergen. 
The breadth of the Gulf Stream, when it issues from the 
Straits of Florida, is about fifty miles, but it afterward 
increases to three hundred. Its color is a dark indigo blue, 
which, contrasting sharply with the green waters of the 
Atlantic, forms a line of junction distinctly visible for som.e 
hundreds of miles : afterward, when this boundary line is 
no longer sensible to the eye, it is easily ascertained by the 
thermometer ; for the temperature of the Gulf Stream is 
everywhere from eight to ten degrees higher than that of 
the surrounding ocean.* 

We leave our readers to infer from this brief description 
how immense must be the power of transport which belongs 
to such currents as these. They sweep along the shores of 
continents, and carry away the accumulated fragments of 
rock, which had first been rent from the cliffs by the waves 
of the sea, and then borne out to a litde distance by the 
tides : they pass by the mouths of great rivers, and receiv- 
ing the spoils of many a fertile and populous country, and 
the ruins of many an inaccessible mountain ridge, they 
hurry off" to deposit this vast and varied freight in the deep 
abysses of the ocean. There is one circumstance, however, 
which we ought not to pass over in silence ; for it is of 
especial importance to the Geologist, and might easily 
escape the notice of the general reader. It is a well ascer- 
tained fact that plants and fruits and other objects from the 
West Indian Islands are annually washed ashore by the 
Gulf Stream on the northwestern . coasts of Europe. The 
mast of a man-of-war burnt at Jamaica was after some 
months found stranded on one of the Western Islands of 

* Rennell's Investigation of the Currents in the Atlantic Ocean ; 
Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, chapters ii. and iii. ; Hum- 
boldt's Cosmos; The English Cyclopaedia, Atlantic Ocean ; Lyell's Prin- 
ciples of Geology, vol. i., chapter xx. 



70 Ocean Cttr rents, 

Scotland ;* and General Sabine tells us that when he was 
in Norway, in the year 1823, casks of palm-oil were picked 
up on the shore near the North Cape, which belonged to a 
vessel that had been wrecked the previous year at Cape 
Lopez on the African coast, f It seems most probable that 
these casks of oil must first have crossed the Atlantic from 
east to west in the Equatorial Current, then described the 
circuit of the West Indian Islands, and finally coming in 
with the Gulf Stream, recrossed the Atlantic, performing 
altogether a journey of more than eight thousand miles. 
From these facts it is clear that, by the agency of ocean 
currents, the productions of one country may be carried to 
another that is far distant. And Geologists do not fail to 
make use of this important conclusion when they find the 
animal and vegetable remains of different climates associ- 
ated together in the same strata of the Earth. 

* Mantell's Wonders of Geology, p. 70, 

f In his notes to the translation of Humboldt's Cosmos, p. xcvii. 




CHAPTER IV. 

THEORY OF DENUDATION CONCLUDED. 

Glaciers — Their nature and compositio7i — Their unceasing 
motion — Powerful agejits of denudatioji — Icebergs — Their 
number afid size — Erratic blocks and loose gravel spread out 
over mountains, plains, and valleys, at the bottom of the 
sea — Characteristic marks of moving ice — Evidence of an- 
cient glacial action — Illustrations from the Alps — From the 
mountains of the Jura — Theory applied to northern Eu- 
rope — To Scotland, Wales, and Ireland — The fact of denu- 
dation established — Summary of the evidejice — This fact the 
first step in geological theory. 




HE next agent of Denudation to which we invite 
the attention of our readers, is one of which our 
own country affords us no example, but which may 
be seen in full operation amidst the wild and impressive 
scenery of Switzerland. And we know not how we can 
better introduce the subject than by the solemn address of 
a great poet, in whom an ardent love of nature was blended 
with a deep sense of religion. As he stood in the midst of 
the snow-clad mountains that shut in the valley of Cha- 
mouni, his spirit, "expanded by the genius of the spot," 
soared away from the scenes before him to the Great Invisi- 
ble Author of all that is beautiful and sublime in nature, 
and he poured forth that well-known hymn of praise and 
worship in which he thus apostrophizes the massive glaciers 
of Mont Blanc : — 



72 The Glacier. 

'* Ye ice-falls ! ye that from the mountain's brow 
Adown enormous ravines slope amain — 
Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, 
And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge ! 
Motionless torrents ! silent cataracts ! 
Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven 
Beneath the keen full moon ? Who bade the sun 
Clothe you with rainbows ? Who with living flowers 
Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet ? 
God ! let the torrents, like a shout of nations. 
Answer ! and let the ice-plains echo, God ! 
God ! sing ye meadow-streams with gladsome voice ! 
Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds ! 
And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow. 
And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God !"* 

A Glacier is an enormous mass of solid ice filling up a 
valley, and stretching from the eternal snows which crown 
the summits of the mountains, down to the smiling corn- 
fields and rich pastures of the plains. It is constantly fed 
by the accumulated snows of winter, which, slipping and 
rolling down the slopes of the mountains, lodge in the val- 
leys below, and are there converted into ice. For it must 
be remembered that the Glacier properly so called does not 
commonly extend much higher than 9000 feet above the 
level of the sea. Beyond that elevation the compact and 
massive ice gradually passes into frozen snow, called by the 
French Neve, and by the Germans Firn. The change 
which takes place in the condition of the snow as it descends 
into the valley is chiefly owing to these two circumstances : 
first, it is closely compacted together by the weight of the 
snowy masses pressing down upon it from above ; and sec- 
ondly, in the summer months it is thawed upon the surface 
during the day by the heat of the sun, and frozen again at 

* A Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni, by Samuel Taylor 
Coleridge. 



Motion of the Glacier, 73 

night. On a small scale this process is practically familiar 
to every school-boy. When he makes a snow-ball he is 
practically converting a mass of snow into ice, and that by 
a series of operations very closely resembling those which 
Nature employs in the manufacture of a Glacier. 

In Switzerland the Glacier is often two or three miles in 
breadth, from twenty to thirty miles in length, and five or 
six hundred feet in depth. Though so vast in its bulk and 
so solid in its character, it is not, as might be supposed, a 
fixed, immovable mass. On the contrary, it is moving 
incessantly, but slowly, down the valley which it occupies, 
at the rate of several inches — sometimes one or two feet, 
and even more — in the day. In Greenland a Glacier 
explored by Doctor Hayes, in his expedition to the North 
Pole, was found to move for a whole year at the average 
rate of a hundred feet a day. It may be thought, perhaps, 
that this fact requires further confirmation ; but at all events 
it is certain that the language of the poet, when he ad- 
dreesss the Glaciers as *' motionless torrents," though it 
conveys an accurate and beautiful idea of the appearance 
they present to the eye, is not rigorously true in a scientific 
sense. Indeed, it is just because the Glaciers are not mo- 
tionless that they serve as instruments of Denudation. 

Their agency in this respect "consists partly in their 
power of transporting gravel, sand, and huge stones, to 
great distances, and partly in the smoothing, polishing, and 
scoring of their rocky channels, and the boundary walls 
of the valleys through which they pass. At the foot of 
every steep cliff or precipice in high Alpine regions, a 
sloping heap is seen of rocky fragments detached by the 
alternate action of frost and thaw. If these loose masses, 
instead of accumulating on a stationary base, happen to 
fall upon a Glacier, they will move along with it, and, in 
place of a single heap, they will form in the course of years 
a long stream of blocks. If a Glacier be twenty miles long^ 

4 



74 Moraines of the Glacier, 

and its annual progression about five hundred feet, it will 
require about two centuries for a block thus lodged upon its 
surface to travel down from the higher to the lower regions, 
or to the extremity of the icy mass. This terminal point 
usually remains unchanged from year to year, although 
every part of the ice is in motion, because the liquefaction 
by heat is just sufficient to balance the onward movement 
of the Glacier, which may be compared to an endless file 
of soldiers, pouring into a breach, and shot down 2s fast as 
they advance. 

''The stones carried along on the ice are called in Swit- 
zerland the moraines of the Glacier. There is always one 
line of blocks on each side or edge of the icy stream, and 
often several in the middle, where they are arranged in 
long ridges or mounds of snow and ice, often several yards 
high. The reason of their projecting above the general 
level, is the non-liquefaction of the ice in those parts of 
the surface of the Glacier which are protected from the rays 
of the sun, or the action of the wind, by the covering of the 
earth, sand, and stones. The cause of medial moraines was 
first explained by Agassiz, who referred them to the con- 
fluence of tributary Glaciers. Upon the union of' two 
streams of ice, the right lateral moraine of one of the 
streams comes in contact with the left lateral moraine of the 
other, and they afterward move on together, in the centre, 
if the confluent Glaciers are equal in size, or nearer to one 
side if unequal. 

** Fragments of stone and sand which fall through cre- 
vasses in the ice, and get interposed between the moving 
Glacier and the fundamental rock, are pushed along so as 
to have their angles more- or less worn off, and many of 
them are entirely ground down into mud. Some blocks 
are pushed along between the ice and the steep boundary 
rocks of the valley, and these, like the rocky channel at the 
bottom of the valley, often become smoothed and polished, 



Icebero's. 



75 



and scored with parallel furrows, or wiih lines and scr.:tches 
produced by hard minerals, such as crystals of quartz, which 
act like the diamond upon glass. The effect is perfectly 
different from that caused by the action of water, or a 
muddy torrent forcing along heavy stones ; for these not 
being held like fragments of rock in ice, and not being 
pushed along under great pressure, cannot scoop out long 
rectilinear furrows or grooves parallel to each other. The 
discovery of such markings at various heights far above the 
surface of existing Glaciers, and for miles beyond their 
present terminations, affords geological evidence of the 
former extension of the ice beyond its present limits in 
Switzerland and other countries."* 





Fig. 2. — Iceberg seen in mid-ocean 1400 miles from any known land. 



Sometimes, however, it happens, especially in extreme 
northern and southern latitudes, that the glacier valley leads 
down to the sea. In such cases, huge masses of ice are 
floated off, and, with their ponderous burden of gravel, 

* Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp. 374-5. 



76 Icebergs, 

mud, and rocks, are carried away by currents toward the 
equator. Immense numbers of these floating islands of 
ice, or Icebergs, as they are called, are seen by mariners 
drifting along in the Northern and Southern oceans. In 
1822 Scoresby counted five hundred between the latitudes 
69° and 70° N., many of which measured a mile in circum- 
ference, and rose two hundred feet above the surface of the 
sea.* The annexed drawing, copied by kind permission 
of the author from Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geol- 
ogy, affords a good idea of the appearance that such Ice- 
bergs present to the eye. The one represented in the fore- 
ground was supposed to reach a height of nearly three hun- 
dred feet, and was observed with many others floating about 
in the Southern Ocean at a distance of 1400 miles from any 
known land. An angular mass of rock was visible on the 
surface. The part exposed was twelve feet high and from 
five to six broad : but it was conjectured, from the color of 
the surrounding ice, that the greater part of the stone was 
concealed from view. 

How enormous must be the magnitude of those ponder- 
ous masses may be learned from the fact that the bulk of 
ice below the level of the water is about eight times as great 
as that above : and in point of fact, Captain Sir John Ross 
saw several of them aground in Baffin's Bay, where the water 
was 1 500 feet deep. It has been calculated that the beds 
of earth and stones which they. carry along cannot be less 
than from 50,000 to 100,000 tons in weight. Sir Charles 
Lyell, writing in 1865 from the results of the latest inves- 
tigations on this subject, says : "Many had supposed that 
the magnitude commonly attributed to icebergs by unscien- 
tific navigators was exaggerated ; but now it appears that 
the popular estimate of their dimensions has rather fallen 
within than beyond the truth. Many of them, carefully 

* Voyage in 1822, p. 233. 



Ancient Glacial Period. yy 

measured by the officers of the French exploring expedi- 
tion of the Astrolabe, were between lOO and 225 feet high 
above water, and from two to five miles in length. Captain 
d'Urville ascertained one of them, which he saw floating, to 
be thirteen miles long, and a hundred feet high, with walls 
perfectly vertical. "* 

They have been known to drift from Baffin's Bay to the 
Azores, and from the South Pole to the Cape of Good 
Hope.f As they approach the milder climate of the tem- 
perate zones, the ice gradually melts away, and thus the 
moraines of arctic and antarctic glaciers are deposited at the 
bottom of the deep sea. In this way, submarine mountains 
and valleys and table-lands are strewn over with scattered 
blocks of foreign rocks, and gravel, and mud, which have 
been transported hundreds of miles across the unfathomable 
abysses of the ocean. 

Though we are chiefly concerned with Glaciers and Ice- 
bergs as agents of Denudation, yet we cannot pass away 
from the subject without referring to the Geological theory 
of an ancient Glacial Period. This little digression from 
the main purport of our present argument will not be 
unacceptable, we hope, to our readers. The theory is in 
itself interesting and ingenious ; and it off"ers an admirable 
illustration of the kind of reasoning by which Geologists 
are guided in their speculations. 

It is well known that the action of moving ice leaves a 
very peculiar and characteristic impress on the surface of 
the rocks, and even on the general aspect of the country 
over which it passes. This is no mystery of science, but 
a plain fact which any one that chooses may observe for 
himself. Every Glacier carries along in its course a vast 
quantity of loose gravel, hard sand, and large angular 

* Elements of Geology, pp. 145, 146. 

t Captain Horsburg, On Icebergs in Low Latitudes. Phil. Trans,, 1830. 



78 



Characteristic Marks of 



stones. A considerable proportion of these materials in 
course of time fall through crevasses in the ice, and become 
firmly embedded in the under surface of the Glacier. Then, 
as the moving mass slowly descends the valley, they are 
shoved along under enormous pressure, and the surface of 




Fig. 3. — Block of Limestone furrowed, scratched, and polished, from the 

Glacier of Rosenlaui, Switzerland. (Lyell.) 

aa. White streaks or scratches, bb^ Furrows. 



the rocks beneath is furrowed, scratched, and polished, in 
a remarkable and unmistakable manner. The furrows and 
scratches are rectilinear and parallel to an extent never seen 
in the marks produced by any other natural agency : and 
they always coincide more or less in their direction with the 
general course of the valley. A reciprocal action often takes 
place : the large blocks of stone, frozen into the under 
surface of the Glacier, are themselves scored and polished 
by friction against the floor and sides of the valley. 



Moving Ice. 79 

Similar effects are produced by Icebergs ; not of course 
when drifting about in the deep sea, but when they come 
into contact with a gently-shelving coast and grate along the 
bottom. These mountains of ice, laden with the debris of 
the land, are often carried along with the velocity of from 
two to three miles an hour ; and before their enormous 
momentum can be entirely destroyed, an extensive surface 
of rock must have been rounded, grooved, and scarred, 
pretty much in the same way as by the action of a Glacier. 
There can be no failure of the grinding materials. During 
the process of melting, the Iceberg is constantly turning 
over according as the centre of gravity shifts its position ; 
and thus a new part of its surface, with fresh angular blocks 
of stone, together with fresh masses of sand and gravel, is 
constantly brought into contact with the floor of the ocean. 
And this is not mere theory. All these phenomena may 
be witnessed any day on the shores of Baffin's Bay and 
Hudson's Bay, and along the coast of Labrador. 

Again, the evidence of glacial action may be discovered 
in the materials themselves which have been transported by 
ice. Many of the large erratic blocks, after having travelled 
immense distances, exhibit the same sharp angular appear- 
ance as if they had only just fallen down from the cliff 
on the mountain side. By this circumstance they are at 
once distinguished from blocks of stone transported by 
running water ; for in these the angles are sure to be 
rounded off by friction. Sometimes, too, they are deposited 
not only far away from the same rock, but in regions where 
no rock of the same kind exists. In the case of Icebergs, 
they are not unfrequently carried many hundreds of miles 
before being dropped into the depths of the ocean, and, 
in the course of their long journey, borne over the lofty 
ridges of submarine mountain chains. 

Furthermore, it often happens that a Glacier shrinks 
backward up the valley, and sometimes even disappears 



So Geological 'theory of 

altogether. When the melting ot tne ice at the lower 
extremity exactly balances its onward progress, then the 
Glacier seems stationary to the eye, and occupies from year 
to year the same position. But, when a number of hot 
seasons follow one another in immediate succession, the 
ice is melted more rapidly than the Glacier advances, and 
in consequence it gradually becomes shorter, and seems to 
the eye to recede toward the upper parts of the valley. In 
this case the long lines of moraines, which before had rested 
on the ice, are left spread out on the plains or deposited 
on the slopes of the mountain. Immense blocks of stone 
are by this means frequently set down on the summits of 
lofty crags, and in such like positions to which they could 
not be brought by any other natural agency. These 
Perched Blacks, as they are called, and also those long 
regular mounds of earth and stones abound in several of 
the Swiss valleys, and constitute a very striking feature of 
Alpine scenery. 

Now, it appears that all these various characteristic marks 
of glacial operations can be distinctly traced in many 
countries where the action of moving ice has been unknown 
within the period of history. And on this fact is founded 
the Geological theory of an ancient Glacial Period. We 
are confidently assured that a great part of Northern Europe, 
including even our own islands, not to speak of America 
and other countries as well in the northern as in the 
.southern hemisphere, were, in some far distant age, the 
scene of those same phenomena which are witnessed at the 
present day amid the solemn grandeur of the Alps, and in the 
frozen wastes of the Arctic regions. In that age enormous 
Glaciers moved slowly downward from the snow-clad heights 
over innumerable valleys now rich with the fruits of the earth ; 
ponderous Icebergs floated over wide areas of the ocean, 
where now the dry land appears ; and vast piles of promis- 
cuous rubbish, with great angular blocks of stone, were de- 



All Ancient Glacial Period, 8 1 

posited on the slopes and crests of submarine mountains that 
now tower hundreds of feet above the level of the sea. 

To illustrate this theory, we would begin with a country 
where the vestiges of glacial operations in past times may 
be studied side by side with the glacial phenomena of the 
present day. In Switzerland it needs but little skill to dis- 
cern many marks and tokens of moving ice where moving 
ice is no longer found. In descending, for example, the 
valley of the Hasli or the valley of the Rhone, the intelli- 
gent traveller can hardly fail to observe how the rocks all 
around are scarred and furrowed, precisely after the same 
fashion as the rocks in the higher parts of the same valleys 
are now being scarred and furrowed by the Glacier of the 
Aar and the Glacier of the Rhone. At intervals, too, may 
be seen long mounds of unstratified gravel and mud, with 
large fragments of rock, in every way resembling the ter- 
minal moraines now daily accumulating at the extremities 
of existing Glaciers. When these facts are once distincdy 
brought home t,o the mind, it is impossible to resist the con- 
clusion that several of the Alpine Glaciers once extended far 
beyond their present limits down the valleys of Switzerland. 

If we proceed a litde distance to the mountains of the 
Jura, now wholly devoid of Glaciers, we shall find that the 
same glacial phenomena with which we have become so 
familiar in the Alps, are still everywhere presented to the 
eye. And we feel instinctively impelled to pursue the same 
line of inductive reasoning. Moving ice, we know from 
abundant observation, is capable of producing these effects : 
nor have we ever seen effects of this kind produced by any 
other cause : nay, there is no other natural agent known 
that is capable of producing such effects : it is therefore 
reasonable to infer that moving ice was the cause of these 
effects ; and that, in some bygone age, great masses of ice 
moved slowly over the valleys of the Jura as they now move 
slowly over the vallevs of the Alps. 

4* 



82 Traiisportation of Rocks, 

Another circumstance may here be noticed which is well 
worthy of consideration. The Alps are composed of gran- 
ite, gneiss, and such like crystalline rocks : the Jura, of 
limestone and various other formations, altogether different 
from those of the Alps. Now, scattered loosely over the 
valleys of the Jura, and perched upon its lofty crests, we 
find immense angular blocks — some of them as large as 
cottages — of the Alpine rocks. The question naturally 
arises, how have they been transported to their present site. 
Certainly not by the action of water ; for in that case the 
projecting angles would have been rounded off, and the 
sharp edges worn away. But the work might have been 
easily accomplished by the power of moving ice, and could 
not have been accomplished by any other natural agency 
with which we are acquainted. Thus we are led to con- 
clude that the Glaciers of the Alps must, by some means 
or another, have once made their way northward across the 
great valley of Switzerland, fifty miles wide, and deposited 
their ponderous burdens of gravel, sand, and erratic blocks 
on the mountains of the Jura. 

It would carry us too far from our present purpose to 
draw out this theory in all its details. But we cannot for- ■ 
bear briefly to touch upon some of the bold and startling 
conclusions to which it has led. The Geologist having, 
by patient and varied exercise, in the regions of existing 
Glaciers, trained his eye and his judgment in the observa- 
tion of those phenomena that mark the action of moving 
ice, soon begins to discover that they are not wanting in 
other countries. They are not to be found, indeed, be- 
neath the burning sun of Africa, nor on the borders of the 
Mediterranean Sea. But as he travels northward they begin 
by degrees to appear ; and when at length he reaches the 
shores of the Baltic, they are spread out profusely before 
him as they w^ere in the bosom of the Alps. All this had 
puzzled Geologists for years ; biit the clue has been found 



The Mountains of Wales, 83 

at last. What is going on to-day in Switzerland, and in 
Greenland, and on the shores of Labrador, must have been 
going on, ages ago, in Germany, and in Denmark, and on 
the shores of the Baltic. We may argue from the eifect to 
the cause. Here are the moraines, the erratics, the perched 
blocks, and the surfaces of rock furrowed and scratched 
with ice : at some past time there must have been the mov- 
ing Glaciers and the floating Icebergs. 

Following out this line of argument, and applying it to 
countries nearer home. Geologists have come to the con- 
clusion that the Grampian Hills in Scotland, the mountains 
of Kerry in Ireland, the Snowdonian heights in Wales, and 
many other ranges of hills in these islands, were in former 
times subjected to the action of moving ice. Nay, it is 
contended, with much show of reason, that these islands 
must have been, for a considerable time, in great part 
submerged beneath the sea, and traversed by floating Ice- 
bergs. When large erratic blocks are found in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the formation from which they have 
been derived, then it is easy to explain their origin and to 
trace their course. But it often happens that the nearest 
rock of the same mineral composition, and therefore, the 
nearest rock from which they can possibly have been de- 
rived, is separated from the site which they now occupy by 
a lofty chain of mountains. By what means, then, have 
they been transported hither.? Not by moving water, for 
their sharp edges and projecting angles are still preserved. 
Not by Glaciers ; for a Glacier cannot climb a steep moun- 
tain ridge. It would seem, indeed, that in the present 
geographical distribution of land and water, there is no 
natural cause which could carry them from the parent rocks 
to their present position. But if we suppose that in some 
long past age of the world, Great Britain and Ireland were 
submerged beneath the sea, and that Icebergs floated in 
the waters above, the problem is solved at once. The 



84 Denudation an Established Fact. 

fragments of far distant rocks frozen into the Icebergs might 
then have been carried over the summits of what are now 
lofty mountains, and as the ice melted away, might have 
been deposited all along their slopes and even on their 
highest crests. 

The presence of marine shells, belonging chiefly to 
species which. now exist only in the arctic seas, affords a 
strong confirmation of this hypothesis. For they are found 
intimately associated with the erratic blocks, not merely in 
valleys, to which the sea might be supposed to have had 
access in times of extraordinary flood, but upon lofty mount- 
ains at a height of five hundred, six hundred, and even 
thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. There is 
no difficulty in accounting for this phenomenon if we sup- 
pose the country to have been at one time submerged, and 
the glacial drift in which the shells are found embedded to 
have been deposited by Icebergs on the floor of the ocean. 
If we refuse to make this supposition the difflculty is simply 
insurmountable.* 

But it is somewhat beside our purpose to wander so far 
into the region of theory and speculation. Our main object 
in these chapters has been to establish the fact that Denuda-. 
tion is actually taking place to an almost incredible extent, 
in the present age of the world. For this purpose we have 
enumerated the principal agents by which this process is 
carried on ; and we have endeavored to show from the 
authenticated researches of travellers and scientific men 
that -they have been at work within the period of history, 
and are still at work around us. Our summary is, indeed, 

* Agassiz, Etudes sur les Glacier's 5 Tyndall, Glaciers of the Alps ; also 
Heat as a mode of Motion, by the same Author ; Lyell, Principles of 
Geology, vol. i., chapter xvi. ; Elements of Geology, chapters xi., xii. 5 
Wallace, Ice Marks in North Wales, in the Quarterly Journal of Science, 
No. xiii. 



The Raw Materials of iVew Strata, 85 

brief; but it is still sufficient to demonstrate that, even dur- 
ing the present age, the whole surface of the Globe has 
been ever in a constant state of change ; that mountain 
heights have been worn away, and valleys have been scooped 
out, and lofty cliffs have disappeared, and bold headlands 
have beer rent in twain, and rocks and earths have day by 
day been broken up and dissolved «and decomposed, by 
the never ceasing operation of natural causes; and that 
the broken fragments are at every moment moving along 
over the surface of the land or through the depths of the 
sea. 

Now Geologists tell us that these are the raw materials of 
a new building which is going on in these latter times under 
the guiding hand of Nature. Indeed, they say it is not so 
much a new building as the uppermost story of an old 
building. If we descend into the Crust of the Earth we 
may trace this building even from the foundations, which 
are laid upon the solid granite, up through each successive 
stage of limestone, and sandstone, slate, conglomerate, and 
clay, until we come to the surface, where new strata, com- 
posed of the same elements, and exhibiting the same gen- 
eral characteristics, are slowly growing up before our eyes. 
Thus will the idea gradually steal upon the mind, that the 
works of ages long gone by are reproduced once again in 
our own days, and that we may study the history of the 
past in the mirror of the present which nature holds up to 
our view. 

This is the branch of Geological argument upon which 
we are now about to enter. We have visited Nature, 
as it were, in her quarry, and we have seen how she col- 
lects her materials, how she fashions them to her pur- 
pose, how she transports them to the place for which 
they are designed. If it be true, as alleged, that with 
these materials she is actually engaged, at the present mo- 
ment, in building upon the existing surface of our Globe 



86 The Raw Materials of New Strata, 

a new series of stratified rocks, which are the exact 
counterpart of those beneath, this fact affords at least a 
very strong presumption in favor of one very important 
principle in the theory of Geologists. Let us, then, 
follow the course of her operations and judge for our- 
selves. 




CHAPTER K 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF MECHANICAL ORIGIN THEORY DEVEL- 
OPED AND ILLUSTRATED. 

Fori7iation of stratified rocks ascribed to the agency of natural 
causes — This theory supported by facts — The argument 
stated — Examples of mechanical rocks — Materials of which 
they are composed — Origitt and history of these inaterials 
traced out — Process of deposition — Process of cojtsolidation — 
Insta7tces of cojisolidation by pressure — Consolidation per- 
fected by natural ce?7tents — Curious illustrations — Consolida- 
tion of sa7idstone in Cornwall - Arra7igement of strata 
explained by intermitte7it actio7i of the age7its of Denuda- 

ti07l. 




HE Stratification of Rocks is one of the most 
remarkable features which the Crust of the Earth 
presents to our notice; and the principles by 
which this phenomenon is explained belong to the very 
foundation of Geological theory. It is now universally 
agreed that the successive layers or strata, which constitute 
such a very large proportion of the Earth's Crust, and 
which cannot fail to attract the notice even of the most 
careless observer, have been slowly built up during a long 
series of ages by the action of natural causes. In support 
of this bold and comprehensive theory, geologists appeal to 
the operations which are going on in nature at the present 
day, or which have been observed and recorded within his- 



SS Origi7i of Stratified Rocks. 

toric times. There is a vast machinery, they say, even no^\ 
at work all over the world, breaking up the rocks that ap- 
pear at the surface of the Earth, transporting the materials 
to different sites, and there constructing new strata, just the 
counterpart of those which we see piled up one above the 
other, wherever a section of the Earth's Crust is exposed to 
view. It is given to us, therefore, on the one hand to con- 
template the finished work as it exists in the trust of the 
Earth, and on the other, to examine the work still in prog- 
ress upon its surface ; and if both are found to agree in all 
their most remarkable characteristics, it is not unreasonable 
to infer that the one was produced in bygone ages by the 
very same causes that are now busy in the production of 
the other. 

In the examination of this argument we first turned our 
attention to the numerous and powerful agents that are now 
employed in the breaking up and transporting of existing 
rocks. It was impossible within our narrow limits to enu- 
merate them all. But we selected those which are at the same 
time the most familiar in their operations, and the most 
striking in their results : — mighty rivers discharging daily 
and hourly into the sea the accumulated spoils of vast con- 
tinents ; the breakers of the ocean dashing with, unceasing 
energy against all the cliffs and coasts of the world ; the 
tides and currents of the sea taking up the ruins which the 
breakers have made, and carrying them far away to the 
lonely depths of the ocean ; the frozen rain bursting mas- 
sive . rocks asunder with its expansive force, and sending 
the fragments over lofty cliffs and steep precipices to be- 
come the prey of roaring mountain torrents, or perhaps, 
more fortunate, to find a place of tranquil rest on the bosom 
of the glittering Glacier ; then this wondrous Glacier itself, 
a moving sea of ice, bearing along its ponderous burden 
from the summits of lofty mountains far down into the 
smiling plains, and meanwhile, with tremendous power, 



Demolition and Reconstruction. 89 

grinding, and furrowing, and wearing away the floor of the 
valley, and leaving behind it an impress which even time 
cannot efface ; and lastly, the massive Icebergs which stud 
the northern and southern seas, drifting along like floating 
islands above the fathomless abysses of the ocean, and scat- 
tering their huge boulders over the surface of submarine 
mountains and valleys. 

All these phenomena have been learned from actual and 
repeated observation. They are not philosophical specula- 
tions, but ascertained facts. We cannot doubt, therefore, 
that the work of demolition is going on ; it remains for us 
now to inquire about the work of reconstruction. 

The reader will remember that Geologists divide the 
stratified rocks into three distinct classes. Mechanical, 
Chemical, and Organic. This distinction, they say, is 
founded on the actual operations of Nature. From a 
close examination of the natural agents now at work in 
the world, it appears that some strata are being formed 
chiefly by the action of mechanical force ; others chiefly 
by the influence of chemical laws ; and others again chiefly 
by the intervention of organic life. Thus we have three 
distinct classes of rock at present coming into existence, 
each exhibiting its own peculiar characteristics, and each, 
moreover, . having its counterpart among the strata that 
compose the Crust of the Earth. We shall now proceed 
to set forth some of the evidence that may be advanced 
in favor of these important conclusions, beginning with 
those rocks that are called Mechanical. 

And first it is important to have, at least, a general idea 
of the appearance which Mechanical Rocks present to the 
eye. We shall take three familiar examples, Conglomerate, 
Sandstone, and Clay. Conglomerate, or Pudding-stone as 
it is sometimes called, is composed of pebbles, gravel, and 
sand, more or less compacted together, and generally form- 
int^ a hard and solid mass. The various materials of which 



90 Examples of Mechanical Rocks. 

it is composed, though united in the one rock, nevertheless 
re:ain iheir own external forms, and may be distinctly rec- 
ognized even by the unpractised eye. Sandstone, as the 
name implies, is made up of grains of sand closely com- 
pressed and cemented together. The quality and appear- 
ance of this rock vary very much according to the size and 
character of its constituent particles. Often the grains of 
sand are as large as peas, or even larger ; sometimes they 
are so minute that they cannot be distinguished without the 
aid of a lens. For the most part they consist of quartz, 
with grains of limestone intermixed ; and they are usually 
rounded, as if by the action of running water. Clay is a 
rather vague and general term, now commonly employed 
to denote any finely-divided mineral matter which contains 
from ten to thirty per cent, of Alumina, and is thereby ren- 
dered plastic, and capable, when softened with water, of 
being moulded like paste with the hand. It occurs in 
many different forms among the strata of the Earth, ac- 
cording to the different minerals that enter into its compo- 
sition and the different influences to which it has been 
subjected. Marl and Loam may be taken as well-known 
illustrations : the former is a clay in which there is a large 
proportion of calcareous matter ; the latter is a mixture of 
clay and sand. Sometimes by pressure clay is -condensed 
into, a kind of slaty rock called Shale, which has the prop- 
erty of being easily split up into an immense number of 
thin plates or laminae. 

It should be remembered that there is not always a per- 
fect uniformity in the structure of these rocks. In Con- 
glomerate, for example, the pebbles may be as large as 
cannon balls, or they may be only' the size of walnuts. 
So, too, we have every variety of fineness and coarseness 
in the quality of Sandstone. Again, both Conglomerate 
and Sandstone are often largely adulterated with clay, and 
on the other hand, clay will sometimes contain more than 



Fo'^'m and Texture of Mechanical Rocks. 91 

lib usual proportion of sand or lime. Lastly, these mate- 
rials are in one place compacted into hard and solid rock, in 
another they are found in a loose and incoherent condition. 

But amidst all these varieties of form and texture, the 
rocks we have been describing generally preserve their pe- 
culiar characteristics, and with a little experience can be 
easily recognized. They are found to constitute a very 
large part, perhaps we might say the larger part, of the 
stratified rocks in every country that has hitherto been ex- 
plored by Geologists. Wherever we go we are met by 
the same familiar appearances; — beds of Conglomerate, 
Sandstone, Clay, Marl, Shale, recurring again and again 
through a series of many hundred strata, sometimes in one 
order, and sometimes in another; sometimes without any 
formation of a different kind intervening, and sometimes 
alternating with limestone or other rocks of which we shall 
speak hereafter. 

Such is the general character and appearance of those 
strata which are known among Geologists as Aqueous 
Rocks of Mechanical origin. Now, it must at once strike 
the reader, that these rocks are made up of just those very 
materials — the same both in kind and in form — that we have 
already shown to be daily prepared and fashioned by a vast 
and complex machinery in the great workshop of Nature. 
He will remember how enormous blocks are detached 
from the mountain side, or from the cliffs on the seashore, 
and broken up into fragments ; how the fragments in time 
become pebbles, sand, and mud ; and how these are caught 
up by rivers, tides, and currents, and carried far away to sea. 
Here we have certainly all' the materials that are necessary 
for the building up of Conglomerate, Sandstone, and Shale. 
We have seen how they are prepared by the hand of Na- 
ture, how they are moulded into shape, how they are trans- 
ported from place to place. Let us now pursue the sequel 
of their history, and follow them on to the end. 



92 Deposition of Strata. 

It is plain they cannot remain forever suspended in 
water ; sooner or later they must fall to the bottom. Yet 
they will not all fall together. For though all are carried 
downward by the one force of gravity, those materials that 
are smaller and lighter will be more impeded by the resist- 
ance of the water. The pebbles and coarse gravel will 
be the first to reach the bottom, then the sand, and last 
of all the fine, impalpable mud. Thus, as the current 
sweeps along in its course, the sediment which it bears 
away from the land will be in a manner sorted, and three 
distinct layers of different materials will be deposited in 
the bed of the ocean ; — first, nearest to the shore, a layer 
of pebbles and coarse gravel, then a layer of sand, and last 
of all a layer of fine mud or clay. This is the first step in 
the construction of stratified rock. To complete the work 
nothing more is necessary than the consolidation of these 
loose and incoherent materials. If this could be accom- 
plished, then we should have a solid stratum of Conglom- 
erate, a solid stratum of Sandstone, and a solid stratum of 
Shale formed in the bed of the ocean. 

With regard to this operation, however, we cannot hope 
for the advantage we have hitherto enjoyed, of actual obser- 
vation. The process of consolidation, if it -take place' at 
all, is going on in the depths of the Sea. But though it is 
thus removed beyond the reach of our senses, it is not 
beyond the reach of our intelligence. We may borrow the 
torch of Science, and search even into the hidden recesses 
of Nature's secret laboratory. 

In the first place, a partial consolidation of clay and 
sand, and even of gravel, may take place under the influ- 
ence of pressure alone. ' Many of us are familiar with this 
truth, but few, perhaps, are aware how extensively it is illus- 
trated in the practical arts of life. Here are some curious 
and interesting examples. The minute fragments of coal 
which are produced by -the friction of larger blocks against 



Consolidation of Strata. 93 

one another, and which may be obtained abundantly in the 
neighborhood of every coal mine, are now manufactured 
into a solid patent fuel by the simple process of forcible com- 
pression. Again, the dust and rubble of black lead, for- 
merly cast aside as useless, are now carefully collected, and 
by no other force than pressure are converted into a solid 
mass, fit to be employed in the manufacture of lead-pencils. 
"The graphite or black lead of commerce," says Sir 
Charles Lyell, ' * having become very scarce,- Mr. Brocke- 
don contrived a method by which the dust of the purer 
portions of the mineral found in Borrowdale might be re- 
composed into a mass as dense and as compact as native 
graphite. The powder of graphite is first carefully pre- 
pared and freed from air, and placed under a powerful 
press on a strong steel die, with air-tight fittings. It is then 
struck several blows, each of a power of a thousand tons ; 
after which operation the powder is so perfectly solidified that 
it can be cut for pencils, and exhibits, when broken, the 
same texture as native graphite."* An instance yet more 
to our purpose occurs in the experiments made to try the 
force of gunpowder. Leathern bags filled with sand are put 
into the mortar that is to receive the cannon-ball at a distance 
of fifty feet from the mouth of the gun ; and the sand is 
often compressed by the percussion of the ball into a solid 
mass of Sandstone, f Now the deposits of which we are 
speaking cannot fail to be subjected to a very powerful and 
a very constant compressing force. For, since the process 
of deposition is always going on, the matter which is depos- 
ited to-day will to-morrow be covered with a new layer, and 
in the course of ages it may lie beneath an immense pile 
of mineral matter, hundreds or even thousands of feet in 
thickness. 

But in fact there is another and more important agent 

* Elements of Geology, p. 38. 

t Mantell, Wonders of Geology, vol. i., p. 102. 



94 Action of Mineral Cements, 

at work. When the harder and more compact blocks of 
Conglomerate and Sandstone are subjected to a close analy- 
sis in the laboratory of the chemist, it is found that they are 
strongly cemented together, sometimes by a solution of 
lime filling up the interstices between the grains or pebbles, 
sometimes by a solution of silica, sometimes by a solution 
of iron. Now this discovery affords a useful clue when 
we come to study the present operations of Nature. It is 
to the agency of a mineral cement we must look for the 
perfect consolidation of Mechanical Rocks. Let us see if 
such a cement can be found. 

It is well known that the water of rivers, lakes, and 
springs, is more or less charged with carbonic acid gas ; 
and therefore, when it comes in contact with limestone, it 
dissolves a portion of the lime and holds it in solution. 
Hence it follows that in every part of the world there exists 
an abundant store of calcareous cement. Again, our 
readers must have observed the brownish, rusty color some- 
times produced by streams on the surface of rocks and 
herbage. This is the result of the iron with which the 
streams are impregnated : and we are informed by scientific 
inquirers that water containing a solution of iron prevails 
very generally in almost all countries. The solution of 
silica in water is not so common ; because pure silica cannot 
be dissolved by water except at a very high temperature. 
Nevertheless, it has been clearly demonstrated by observa- 
tion, that silica, where it occurs in certain combinations 
with other mineral substances, may be dissolved readily 
enough : for instance, in the decomposition of felspar, 
and of all rocks in which felspar is an ingredient, silica is 
carried off in a state of solution.* And since these rocks 
are very numerous, and distributed over every part of the- 
earth, we may fairly conclude that a solution of silica exists 
very abundantly in nature. 

* Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 4.2; also Principles, vol. i., p. 4io. 



Examples of Consolidation, 95 

Now when we bear in mind that we have on the one 
hand in the Crust of the Earth, solid strata of Conglom- 
erate and Sandstone, exhibiting the evident operation of 
these mineral cements; and on the other h^iid, near the 
surface, the loose materials of Conglomerate and Sandstone 
as if ready to be cemented, and close at hand the cement- 
ing mineral itself in a convenient form, it is not unreason- 
able to assume that the process should actually take place ; 
— that water highly charged with iron, or lime, or silica, 
should filter through the loose gravel and sand, depositing 
its mineral cement as it passes along, and converting the 
newly-formed strata into compact and solid rock. 

But this conclusion does not rest upon antecedent proba- 
bility alone. We have proof unquestionable that a process 
such as we have described is actually going on. In the 
dredging of the river Thames large masses of solid Con- 
glomerate are found from time to time, firmly compacted 
together by a ferruginous cement. And there is internal 
evidence that the process of solidification has been efi'ected 
by natural causes within historic times ; for it happens not 
unfrequently that Roman coins and fragments of pottery 
are found embedded in the solid block of stone. Similar 
discoveries were made in deepening the bed of the river 
Dove in Derbyshire, about the year 1832. Thousands of 
silver coins were found about ten feet under the surface, 
firmly cemented into a hard Conglomerate. Several of 
these coins bear dates of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies ; and therefore the pebbles which form the rock must 
have been deposited and converted into a solid mass since 
that time. But we must not suppose that so long an inter- 
val is necessary for the consolidation of rocks. In the 
early part of the present century a vessel called the Thetis 
was wrecked off cape Frio on the coast of Brazil. A few 
months afterward, when an attempt was successfully made 
to recover the dollars and other treasures which had gone 



96 Examples of Consolidation. 

to the bottom with the wreck, they were found completely 
enveloped in solid masses of quartzose Sandstone. The 
materials of the newly-formed stone were in this case 
manifestly derived from the granite rocks of the Brazilian 
coast.* " 

In many parts of the Mediterranean, and along its 
shores, this process is known to be going on with equal 
rapidity. ^'The new-formed strata of Asia Minor," writes 
Sir Charles Lyell, "consists of stone, not of loose, incoher- 
ent materials. Almost all the streamlets and rivers, like 
many of those in Tuscany and the south of Italy, hold 
abundance of carbonate of lime in solution, and precipitate 
Travertine, or sometimes bind together the sand and gravel 
into solid Sandstones and Conglomerates ; every delta and 
sandbar thus acquires solidity, which often prevents streams 
from forcing their way through them, so that their mouths 
are constantly changing their position." f In the Museum 
at Montpelier is exhibited a cannon embedded in a crystal- 
line calcareous rock which was taken up from the bed of 
the Mediterranean near the mouth of the Rhone. J 

To these examples of the solidification of rock within 
recent times we are tempted to add one more, taken from 
a Memoir published by the late Dr. Paris in the Transac- 
tions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. "A 
sandstone occurs in various parts of the northern coast of 
Cornwall, which affords a .most instructive example of a 
recent formation, since we here actually detect Nature, at 
work in converting loose sand into solid rock. A very con- 
siderable portion of the northern coast of Cornwall is cov- 
ered with calcareous sand, consisting of minute particles of 
comminuted shells, which in some .places has accumulated 
in quantities so great, as to have formed hills of from forty 

* Mantell's Wonders of Geology, pp. 70, 81, 82, 83. 
J Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., p. 431. 
+ Id, ib., p. 429. • 



Solidification of Sandstone in Cornwall, 97 

to fifty feet in elevation. In digging into these sand-hills, 
or upon the occasional removal of some part of them by 
the winds, the remains of houses may be seen ; and in 
places where the churchyards have been overwhelmed, a 
great number of human bones may be found. The sand is 
supposed to have been originally brought from the sea by 
hurricanes, probably at a remote period. It first appears 
in a state of slight but increasing aggregation on several 
parts of the shore in the Bay of St. Ives ; but on approach- 
ing the Gwythian River it becomes more extensive and 
indurated. ... It is around the promontory of New Kaye 
that the most extensive formation of Sandstone takes place. 
Here it may be seen in different stages of induration, from 
a state in which it is too friable to be detached from the 
rock on which it reposes, to a hardness so considerable 
that it requires a very violent blow from a sledge to break 
it. Buildings are constructed of it ; the church of Cran- 
stock is entirely built with it ; and it is also employed for 
various articles of domestic and agricultural uses." 

No reasonable doubt can therefore remain that the loose 
beds of gravel, sand, and clay, which, as we have already 
seen, are deposited from day to day, and from year to year, 
and from century to century, beneath the waters of the 
ocean, may be converted in the course of time by natural 
agents into solid rocks of Conglomerate, of Sandstone, and 
of Shale, But this is not enough. It yet remains for us to 
explain how these solid rocks come to be arranged in a series 
of distinct layers or strata. The reader will remember that 
the supply of materials in any given area of the ocean is not 
fixed and continuous, but, on the contrary, variable and 
intermittent. During the periodical rains within the tropics, 
and during the melting of the snows in high latitudes or 
in mountain regions, the rivers become enormously swol- 
len, and carry down a far greater quantity of sediment 
than at other seasons. The waste of cliffs, too, by the 

5 



98 Origin of Stratification explained. 

action of the waves, is much greater in winter than in 
summer. Thus, while at one season a particular river or 
current may be comparatively free from sediment, at an- 
other it will carry along in its turbid course an almost 
incredible freight of mineral matter. We have a notable 
example in the case of the Ganges. The bulk of earthy 
matter which this river discharges into the sea during the 
four months of rain, averages about 50,000,000 of cubic 
feet per day ; whereas the daily discharge during the three 
months of hot weather is considerably less than one hun- 
dredth part of that amount. * 

Besides this variety in the quantity of materials carried, 
there is also a great variety in the velocity both of rivers and 
of currents ; and therefore they will not always carry the 
same materials to the same distance ; for the less rapid the 
stream, the sooner will the sediment fall to the bottom. 
We may add that currents, as is well known, often change 
their direction from various causes, and thus at different 
times they will carry the waste of the land to different parts 
of the ocean. 

From these considerations two conclusions may be fairly 
deduced : First, that the process of deposition may often go 
on very rapidly for a time over a given area, and then 
altogether cease, and after an interval begin again. In this 
way time may be allowed for one deposit to acquire more 
or less consistency before the next is superimposed ; and 
thus a succession of distinct beds will be produced. Sec- 
ondly, we may infer that the same precise materials will 
not always be deposited over the same area ; at one time it 
will be sand, at another gravel, at another clay, at another 

* The figures given by Sir Charles Lyell, and derived from the obser- 
vat'ons of Mr. Everest, are these : total discharge during the four months 
of rain, 6,082,041,600 cubic feet; total discharge during the three months 
of hot weather, 38,154,240 cubic feet. — Principles of Geology, vol. i., 
P- 481. 



Origin of Stratification explained, 99 

some combination of these or other mineral substances. 
And thus it may happen that the strata deposited in suc- 
cessive periods of time shall not only be distinct one from 
the other, but composed of different materials ; — that there 
shall be, in fact, as we so often see that there are, beds of 
Conglomerate, Sandstone, Clay, Marl, and other rocks, 
succeeding one another in every variety of order. 




CHAPTER VL 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF MECHANICAL ORIGIN FURTHER ILLUS- 
TRATIONS. 

Impossible to witness the formation of stratified rocks in 
the depths of the ocean — On a s?nall scale examples are ex- 
hibited by rivers and lakes — Alluvial plains — Their extra- 
ordinary fertility — Great basin of the Nile — Experiments 
of the Royal Society — The Mississippi and the Orinoco — 
Some rivers fill up their own channels — Case of the river 
Po — Artificial embankfnents — Large tract of alluvial soil 
deposited by the Rhone i?t the Lake of Geneva — Deltas — The 
delta of the Ganges and Brahmapootra — Delta of the Nile, 

|HE argument set forth in the last chapter is simple, 
ingenious, and persuasive. Nay, we must fairly 
confess that to us it seems conclusive. We do 
not mean to say that it amounts to a rigorous demonstra- 
tion. But it affords at least a strong presumption that the 
process of deposition, the process of consolidation, and the 
process of stratification, are going on to avast extent be- 
neath the waters of the ocean ; and that, in these latter 
ages of the world's history. Aqueous Rocks are slowly 
growing up under the influence of natural causes, which 
resemble in every important feature those that are now 
attracting so much attention within -the Crust of the Earth. 
We are therefore prepared to accept this conclusion, if it be 
not found at variance with any well-established fact, or with 
any known and certain truth. But in matters of physical 
science the evidence of our senses is, after all, the most sat- 




Alluvial Pla ins, i o i 

isfactory argument. And our readers, no doubt, would 
like to witness, if possible, with their eyes, the building up 
of Stratified Rocks. Now, though it is not given to us to 
see this process in all its colossal magnitude as it goes on 
within the depths of the mighty ocean, it is yet possible to 
behold it exhibited, as it were, in miniature, in certain 
cases where the sediment of rivers is deposited within reach 
of observation. 

Every one is familiar with the fact that many rivers over- 
flow their banks at certain seasons, and spread themselves 
out over a wide area, sometimes reaching to the foot of 
the hills that bound the valleys through which they flow. 
This is the origin of those Alluvial Plains so remarkable 
for their surpassing richness and fertility. In each succes- 
sive year a thin film of sediment is deposited on the surface 
of the land ; and thus in the course of ages a soil is formed 
capable of producing, season after season, the most luxuri- 
ant crops without manifesting any symptoms of exhaustion. 
The soil of the Alluvial Plain near St. Louis, on the Missis- 
sippi, is thus spoken of by a modern traveller : "As to the 
quality of the land, any given number of crops might be 
grown off" it. Corn has been raised on it for a hundred 
years together — as far back as the setdement is known. 
To inquire about the system of farming in the West is not 
productive of information which would be of service on the 
continent of Europe. There is no system : the farmer 
scratches the ground and throws in the seed, and his boun- 
tiful harvests come up year after year without further thought 
or trouble. Thousands of centuries have made the soil for 
him, and it defies him to make too heavy demands upon it. 
It gives him all he asks, and is never known to disappoint 
or fail."* 

The great basin of the Nile offers an admirable example 

* From a Special Correspondent, in the Times Newspaper, Decem- 
ber 7, 1866. 



I02 Great Basin of the AHle, 

of an Alluvial Plain on a scale of considerable magnituae. 
Even in the days of Herodotus, Egypt was regarded as the 
"gift of the Nile:" and the correctness of this opinion 
has been placed beyond all reasonable doubt by the investi- 
gations of modern science. The river bears along in its 
current, especially during the flood season, a large quantity 
of fine earthy sediment obtained by the process of Denu- 
dation from the mountains of central Africa. Once a year, 
between the months of July and November, it overflows its 
banks, and this sediment is deposited on the adjoining 
plains. Thus a new layer of rich soil is spread out every 
year over the existing surface ; and the whole country is, in 
a manner, growing upward at the average rate, according 
to a rough estimate, of about six inches in the century. 
Near Cairo, where excavations have been made, the suc- 
cessive layers of annual deposit are distinctly visible to the 
eye. And it is worthy of remark that, although each one 
of these is no thicker than a sheet of paste-board, the 
stratum of alluvial soil which overlies the sands of the 
desert, and which to all appearance has come into existence 
by the very same process, is often forty, fifty, and even 
sixty feet in depth. 

A series of interesting observations and experiments have 
been recently made under the auspices of the Royal Society, 
w^hich aff"ord some useful information on this subject. The 
colossal statue of Rameses, near Memphis, was found to be 
partly embedded in a stratum of mud which had gradually 
accumulated around it. Upon sinking a shaft, it was dis- 
covered that from the present surface of the plain to the 
base of the pedestal is a distance of nearly ten feet. Now, 
Rameses flourished, according to Lepsius, about one thou- 
sand three hundred and sixty years before the Christian 
Era ; and therefore, since that time, or within a space of 
3200 years, it is pretty clear that a thickness of ten feet has 
been added at this spot to the Alluvial Plain of the Nile. 



Experiments of the Royal Society. 103 

It is hard to resist the conclusion that the next stratum of 
ten feet as we proceed downward, which, in every respect, 
resembles the first, must have been produced in the same 
way by natural causes ; and so on till we reach the barren 
sand of the desert, which is here just forty-two feet below 
the present level of the plain.* 

It should seem, therefore, that Egypt is nothing more 
than a great Alluvial Plain, slowly built up in the long 
lapse of ages, by the annual inundations of the Nile. 
Vast tracts of the same kind are to be found in other parts 
of the world. The Mississippi, which drains about one- 
seventh of the whole North American continent, has formed 
an Alluvial Plain more than a thousand miles in length, 
and from thirty to eighty in breadth. And in South Amer- 
ica, the Orinoco once a year spreads out its swollen and 
turbid waters over an area not unfrequently seventy miles 
broad ; leaving behind, when it subsides, a substantial layer 
of muddy sediment to enrich the soil.f It would be easy 
to accumulate examples. But we shall be content with 
having referred the reader to the Great Basin of the Nile, 
which affords special opportunities for the study of alluvial 
phenomena ; being illustrated at once by the historical 
monuments of remote antiquity and the scientific researches 
of recent times. 

There is another process by which Alluvial Plains are 
formed. It often happens that a river fills up the channel 
in which it has been moving for years, and is forced to 
shift its course and seek a new passage to the sea. In prog- 
ress of time this channel is filled up like the former and 
deserted, and then a third, and then a fourth. At each 
change a new stratum is formed, almost always distinguished 
for its extraordinary fertility. This phenomenon is chiefly 

* Horner, Alluvial Land of Egypt, Phil. Trans., part i., for 18555 
Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp. 431-9. 
t The English Cyclopaedia, Alluvium. 



I04 Deserted River Courses. 

to be looked for when an extensive and almost level plain 
lies between some lofty range of mountains and the sea. 
In such a case, the river which bears away the waste of the 
mountains, will move onward in its course with a sluggish 
current, and will, of necessity, deposit the greater part of its 
burden on the way. There is scarcely a country in the 
world that does not abound in formations of this kind ; 
and we could point to many notable instances in which 
herds of cattle are now grazing on the very spot where, 
within quite recent times, the turbid waters of some great 
stream flowed sullenly along. 

The river Po, which receives through a thousand moun- 
tain torrents an enormous quantity of mineral sediment 
from the Alps, affords an instructive example. Since the 
beginning of the fifteenth century it has many times changed 
its course, often committing great devastations, and always 
leaving behind unmistakable traces of its movements. 
Several towns that once stood on the left bank of the river 
are now on the right. In some instances parish churches 
and religious houses were pulled down when the devouring 
stream was seen slowly to approach, and then rebuilt with 
the same materials at a greater distance. An old channel 
may be easily recognized at the present day near Cremona, 
w^hich bears the name of Po Morto, and another called Po 
Vecchio, in the territory of Parma. 

It may be interesting to our readers to learn that these 
movements have been checked in modern times. By a 
system of artificial embankment the waters of the river are 
now confined within definite and narrow limits : thus the 
velocity of the current is increased and a very considerable 
portion of the sediment is carried on to the sea. Neverthe- 
less, much is still deposited in the bed of the river, which 
is, in consequence, raised higher and higher each succes- 
sive year. Hence it has become necessary, in order to 
prevent inundations, to -add eVery season to the height of 



Fossil Rema ins a nd Stratified Rocks, 2 o i 

materials, which afterward became cor\soUdated, and above 
which, in the course of ages, more and more matter was 
deposited, until at length that lofty pile of strata was pro- 
duced, beneath which the remains are now found buried? 

Again, it is part of our theory that the formation of 
Stratified Rocks took place, for the most part, under water. 
The Organic Remains, therefore, which we should natu- 
rally expect to -find preserved in the strata of the earth, 
would be those of aquatic animals ; or, if the remains of 
land animals were to be looked for, it should be of those 
chiefly which live near the banks of rivers and estuaries, 
and which, after death, might have been carried down by 
the current and buried in the silt and mud with which 
almost all rivers are charged at certain seasons of the year. 
We know as a fact that such animals are buried at the 
present day in the Deltas of the Ganges and the Missis- 
sippi ; and it would be reasonable to suppose that the same 
should have occurred in former ages. Now here again the 
evidence of Fossil Remains exactly fits in with our theory. 
For the vast bulk of them are manifestly the remains of 
animals that lived in water: and the terrestrial animals, 
comparatively few, whose bones are preserved in the Crust 
of the Earth, are such as frequent the banks of great rivers 
or the marshy swamps of estuaries. 

Thus much we may learn even from a cursory glance at 
Fossil Remains. But these curious monuments of ancient 
times have a deeper meaning, which cannot be unfolded 
without a more minute and laborious investigation. Our 
readers are aware that all the animals at present existing 
on the face of the Earth have been scientifically grouped 
together, according to certain well-marked characteristics, 
into various Kingdoms, Classes, Genera, and Species. 
Thus, for example, the horse and the dog are two different 
Species, belonging to the same Class of Mammalia ; the 
eagle and the sparrow are two difl'erent Species of the same 

9* 



2 o 2 Researches of Ctivier, 

Class called Birds. Then again the Class of Mammalia 
and the Class of Birds both belong to the one common 
Kingdom of Vertebrata ; because, though different in many 
other respects, they agree in this, that all the members of 
both Classes have a vertebral or spinal column, to which 
the other parts of the internal skeleton are attached. 

Now when Cuvier began to examine closely the Organic 
Remains of former times, to which his attention was called 
by the bones dug up in the gypsum quarries of Montmartre, 
near Paris, about the close of the last centurj^ he brought 
with him to the task a very large acquaintance with the 
various forms of life that, in the present age, prevail 
throughout the world. And he 'was greatly struck with 
the marked difference between those living animals with 
which he had been long familiar, and those with which 
he now became acquainted for the first time. The more 
he extended his researches, the more manifest did this dif- 
ference appear ; until at last it became quite clear that 
the great bulk of the animals whose remains are pre- 
served in the Crust of the Earth, have no representatives 
now living on its surface. Nevertheless, he observed that, 
though the Species no longer exists, it often happens that 
we have still other Species of the same Genus ; or if the 
Genus, too, be extinct, we have other Genera of the same 
Class. Here, then, is the first great truth at which Cuvier 
arrived, and which has been since confirmed by extensive 
observations : — that the animals which formerly dwelt on 
this Earth of ours, were, for the most part, widely different 
from those by which it is now inhabited : and yet there is a 
well-defined likeness between them ; that both have been 
created on a plan so strictly uniform,, that the one and the 
other naturally find their place in the same system of classi- 
fication. 

As the science of Palaeontology progressed, and new 
facts were day by day accumulated, another truth, not less 



Distribution of Fossil Re7na ins. 203 

important, was gradually but certainly developed. In the 
distribution of Fossil Remains through the various strata 
of the Earth, there is a certain order observed, a certain 
regular law of succession, which cannot have been the 
mere result of chance, and which it is the business of 
science to unravel and explain. The facts are these. If 
we follow a particular set of strata in a horizontal direction, 
we find that the same fossils continue to prevail over hun- 
dreds of square miles, nay, often over a space as large as 
Europe, though beyond certain limits this uniformity of 
Fossil Remains will gradually be observed to disappear. 
But when we penetrate in a vertical direction through the 
strata, the forms of animal and vegetable life that we meet 
with are constantly changing. After a few hundred yards 
at the most, we find ourselves in the midst of a group of 
fossils, altogether different from those which we have passed 
in the beds above : and so on, as we proceed downward, 
each particular set of strata is found to have an assemblage of 
fossils peculiar to itself * 

There can be no reasonable doubt as to the truth of these 
facts. They have been established and confirmed by the 
positive testimony of a whole host of Geologists, whose 
researches have extended to all parts of the globe. And we 
have besides a kind of negative evidence on the subject 
which is scarcely less convincing than the positive. Nothing 
is more easy than to refute a universal proposition if it is 
false. If it is not a fact that each group of strata, as we pro- 
ceed downward, exhibits a collection of Fossils peculiar to 
itself, the assertion maybe at once disproved by pointing 
out two or three different groups with the same Fossils. 
There are thousands of practical Geologists at work all over 
the world, eager for fame ; and any one of them would 
make his name illustrious if he could overturn a theory so 

* See Lyell, Elements of Geology, pp. 94-96 ; Principles of Geology, 
p. 116; Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 410, 411. 



204 Orgastic Life proved by Fossil Remains, 

generally received. Now, when a statement of facts can be 
easily disproved if untrue ; and when, at the same time, 
there is a large number of men whose interest it would be 
to disprove the statement if possible ; and when it is never- 
theless nol disproved ; this circumstance, we contend, is a 
convincing argument that the alleged facts are true. And 
such precisely is the case before us. We therefore think it 
would be unreasonable not to accept the facts. 

Let us next examine what is their significance. Each 
group of strata, be it remembered, represents to us the 
animal life that flourished on the Earth during the period 
in which that particular group was in progress of forma- 
tion. It is, as it were, a cabinet in whi^h are preserved for 
our instruction certain relics or memorials of that age in 
the world's history. Of course it is not a perfect collection ; 
but only a collection of those remains that chanced to 
escape destruction, and by some natural embalming pro- 
cess to be saved from dissolution. When we learn, then, 
that there is a marked uniformity in the assemblage of Fos- 
sils that are spread over a large horizontal area, in any 
group of strata, we conclude that, when that group was in 
course of formation, there was a certain uniformity in the 
animal life that extended over the corresponding area of the 
globe ; just as, at the present day, the same species of ani- 
mals are found to flourish over a great part of Europe, or 
America. And if this uniformity of Fossil Remains does 
not extend horizontally to an indefinite distance, this is pre- 
cisely what we should have expected from the analogy of 
the existing creation : for, when we examine the present 
distribution of animal life over the earth, we find a marked 
diversity to exist between countries that are removed from 
one another; as, for instance, between Europe and Aus- 
tralia. 

In the next place, we are told that, as we proceed down- 
ward into the Crust of the Earth, each successive group of 



Principles of Geological Chronology, 2o5 

strata has an assemblage of Fossils clearly distinct in char' 
acter from those of the group above and of the group 
below. The conclusion to which this fact points is obvious 
enough. If, in the former case, we inferred that the animal 
life of any one period, considered in itself, was the same 
over extensive areas, in this case we must infer that the 
animal life of each successive period was peculiar io thai 
particular age ; being altogether distinct in its character 
from the animal life of the period that went before and of 
the period that followed. It would appear, therefore, as 
Sir Charles Lyell puts it, "that from the remotest period 
there has been ever a coming in of new organic forms, and 
an extinction of those which pre-existed on the earth ; some 
species having endured for a longer, others for a shorter 
time ; while none have ever reappeared after once dying 
out." * 

Now, from these principles, Geologists have been grad- 
ually led to build up a system of Geological Chronol- 
ogy ; in other words, to determine the order of time in 
which the numerous groups of strata that make up the 
Crust of the Earth have been formed, and thus to fix the 
age of each group in reference to the rest. This Chronol- 
ogy is not reckoned by the common measures of time 
which are used in history, but rather by the successive 
periods during which each group of rocks was in its turn 
slowly deposited on the existing surface of the globe. For 
example, the Coal-measures that so abound in the North 
of England are very much older than the bluish clay of 
which London is built. But if we ask what is the differ- 
ence between the age of the one and of the other, the 
answer is given not in days and years and centuries, but in 
the number of different Formations that intervened between 
the two. We are told that the Coal-measures belong to 
the Carboniferous Formation ; that this Formation was fol- 
* Elements of Geology, p. 95. 



2o6 Principles of Geological Chronology, 

lowed by the Permian, and that again in succession by the 
Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous ; and that, upon 
this last was spread out the Eocene, to which the London 
clay belongs. Indeed, as regards the precise length of any 
given period, Geologists can offer nothing but the wildest 
conjectures. Some form their estimates in thousands of 
years ; others in millions. And the wisest amongst them 
fairly confess they have no sufficient data to make an accu- 
rate computation. Nevertheless, they are all agreed in this, 
that the ages of which the memory is preserved in history, 
that is to say, the last six thousand years, are but a small 
part of one Geological period. Compared to the volumi- 
nous chronicles laid up in the Crust of the Earth, the records 
inscribed by human hands constitute but an insignificant 
fraction of the world's history. Our readers will be glad 
to learn something of the way in which this startling sys- 
tem of Geological Chronology is constructed and developed. 

At first sight, perhaps, it might be imagined that the 
order of time in which the various strata were deposited, 
can be easily learned from the relative position in which 
they lie. Since each stratum, when first produced, was 
spread out on the existing surface of the globe, it is clear 
that the one which lies uppermost in the series must be 
the newest, then that which lies next below, and so on till 
we reach the lowest of the pile, which must be the oldest 
of all. Nothing could be more satisfactory than this reason- 
ing, if each stratum was spread out over the whole Earth, 
and if, after having been once deposited, it was never after- 
ward removed. We might then regard each stratum as a 
volume in the Natural History of the Globe, which, when 
it was finished, was laid, down upon that which contained 
the chronicles of the preceding age ; and thus the posi- 
tion of every stratum would be in itself a sufficient evidence 
of the age to which it belonged. 

But such is not the case. . Nowhere does the Crust of 



Principles of Geological Chronology. 207 

the Earth exhibit a complete series of the Stratified Rocks 
laid out one above another. In any given section we can 
find but a few only of the long series of groups that are 
familiar to Geologists. And if we follow them on, in a 
horizontal direction, we shall invariably find that some of 
the strata will ihin out and disappear, while new strata will 
gradually be developed between two groups that were be- 
fore in immediate contact. Let it be observed, in passing, 
that this fact fits in most perfectly with the theory we have 
been all along defending. The Stratified Rocks were 
deposited under water ; therefore, the strata of any given 
period were not spread out over the whole Globe, but at most 
over those parts only which, for the time, were sub- 
merged. With the next period came a change in the 
boundaries of land and water ; and the formation of strata 
ceased in some localities and began in others : and so on 
from epoch to epoch. Thus the areas over which the pro- 
cess has been going on, have been, in every age, of limited 
extent, and have been ever shifting from place to place 
over the surface of the earth. Moreover, there is the oppo- 
site process of Denudation. Many of the strata deposited 
in the depths of the ocean must have been afterward swept 
away by the breakers, as they slowly emerged from the 
waters ; or at a later time, reduced to their original ele- 
ments, and carried back to the sea, by the action of rivers, 
rain, and frost. It should seem, therefore, as well from the 
fad, which is obvious to any one who will examine it, as from 
our theory, which harmonizes so completely with the fact, 
that the strata which we meet with in any given section of 
the Earth's Crust present to us but a very broken and im- 
perfect series of monuments. They are, as it were, but 
odd volumes of a long series, and though they lie in juxta- 
position, they may belong, nevertheless, to Geological epochs 
widely removed from each other. 

Hence, in order to construct a complete system of Geo- 



2o8 Principles of Geological Chronology, 

logical Chronology it is necessary to collect together these 
odd volumes, as they may be called, of the Great Geolog- 
ical Calendar, and to assign to each one its proper place in 
the series. This difficult and complicated task is accom- 
plished chiefly by the aid of Fossil Remains. We have 
already shown that the Fossil Remains which are found 
embedded in each group of strata, represent the organic 
life of the period during which that group of strata was in 
progress of formation. Moreover, we have seen that each 
period was marked by the existence of an animal and vege- 
table creation peculiar to itself. If, therefore, we find that 
the Fossils of two different districts exhibit the same gen- 
eral character, we may conclude that the beds in which 
they are preserved were deposited about the same age, and 
consequently belong to the same Geological Period. 
Whereas, on the other hand, if, within certain limits, we 
discover two groups of strata, each of which has a collec- 
tion of Fossils totally different from the other, it is a proof 
that these two groups were not deposited in the same age, 
and must, consequently, be referred to different Epochs of 
the Geological Calendar. Let us now see in what manner 
the practical Geologist proceeds to apply these general 
principles. 

He takes first some one country, say England, and in 
that country he selects some one particular district to begin 
with. Here he examines a number of different sections, 
and makes himself familiar with all the strata of the neigh- 
borhood, and with the order in which they lie. Let us 
suppose that he finds three different groups spread out one 
above another, and let us call these groups A, B, and C ; 
A being the lowest, B immediately above A, and C above 
B. The chronological order of these strata will be, there- 
fore, A, B, C. He will study next the Fossil Remains 
which he finds embedded in each group. For convenience 
we may designate the Fossils of A by the letter a, those of 



Wyers Cave in the Blue Mountains. 1 1 3 

at the romantic tales told of the place — of its caves of 
diamonds and of its ruby walls ; the simple truth, when 
deprived of all exaggeration, being sufficient to excite 
admiration and awe. 

"Sometimes a linear fissure in the roof, by the direction 
it gives to the dropping of the lapidifying water, forms a 
perfectly transparent curtain or partition. A remarkable 
instance of this kind occurs in a cavern in North America 
called Wyer's Cave. This cave is situated in a ridge of 
limestone hills running parallel to the Blue Mountains. 
A narrow and rugged fissure leads to a large cavern, where 
the most grotesque figures, formed by the percolation of 
water through beds of limestone, present themselves, while 
the eye, glancing onward, watches the dim and distant 
glimmers of the lights of the guides — some in the recess 
below, and others in the galleries above. Passing from 
these recesses, the passage conducts to a flight of steps that 
leads into a large cavern of irregular form and of great 
beauty. Its dimensions are about thirty feet by fifty. Here 
the incrustations hang just like a sheet of water that was 
frozen as it fell ; there they rise into a beautiful stalactite 
pillar; and yonder compose an elevated seat, surrounded 
by sparry pinnacles. Beyond this room is another more 
irregular, but more beautiful; for besides having sparry 
ornaments in common with the others, the roof overhead 
is of the most admirable and singular formation. It is 
entirely covered with Stalactites, which are suspended from 
it like inverted pinnacles ; and they are of the finest ma- 
terial, and most beautifully shaped and embossed. In 
another apartment an immense sheet of transparent Stalac- 
tite, which extends from the floor to the roof, emits, when 
struck, deep and mellow sounds like those of a muffled 
drum. 

' ' Farther on is another vaulted chamber, which is one 
hundred feet long, thirty-six wide, and twenty-six high. Its 



114 Wyers Cave in the Bhte Mountains, 

-walls are filled with grotesque concretions. The. effect of 
the lights placed by the guides at various elevations, and 
leaving hidden more than they reveal, is extremely fine. 
At the extremity of another range of apartments, a magnifi- 
cent hall, two hundred and fifty feet long, and thirty-three 
feet high, suddenly appears. Here is a splendid sheet of 
rock-work running up the centre of the room, and giving 
it the aspect of two separate and noble galleries. This 
partition rises twenty feet above the floor, and leaves the 
fine span of the arched roof untouched. There is here a 
beautiful concretion, which has the form and drapeiy of a 
gigantic statue ; and the whole place is filled with stalag- 
mitical masses of the most varied and grotesque character. 
The fine perspective of this room, four times the length of 
an ordinary church, and the amazing vaulted roof spreading 
overhead, without any support of pillar or column, produce 
a most striking effect. In another apartment, which has an 
altitude of fi% feet, there is at one end an elevated recess 
ornamented with a group of pendant Stalactites of unusual 
size and singular beauty. They are as large as the pipes 
of a full-sized organ, and ranged with great regularity : 
when struck they emit mellow sounds of various keys, not 
unlike the tones oi musical glasses. The length of this 
extraordinary group of caverns is not less than one thousand 
six hundred feet." 

In the case of Stalactites and Stalagmites the actual for- 
mation of limestone by the influence of Chemical action is 
brought home forcibly to the mind, and, in a manner, 
made palpable to. the senses. We shall now pass to other 
examples in which the process is scarcely less open to ob- 
servation, and in which the limestone assumes a somewhat 
more massive and rock-like form. . Every one who has 
been in Italy is familiar with the limestone rock called 
Travertine. It is seen in the ancient walls and the venera- 
ble temples of Paestum, which have withstood unharmed 



Experiment of Sir Humphrey Davy. 1 1 5 

the wasting hand of time for upward of twenty centuries. 
In Rome, too, this stone is associated in our minds as well 
with the enduring monuments of antiquity, as with the 
imposing splendor of Christian art. The Coliseum, the 
most stupendous of ruins, and St. Peter's, the most sublime 
of temples, are built of Travertine. In fact it seems to 
have been, in every age, the chief building stone employed 
in the architecture of the Eternal City ; and the quarries 
from which it was taken in ancient times may still be seen 
at Ponte Lucano, near Tivoli. Now it is an interesting 
fact, that close to this very spot, at the Solfatara lake on the 
one side, and at Tivoli itself on the other, the formation of 
Travertine is going on in our own time, by the precipitation 
of lime from a state of solution. 

The Solfatara lake, situated about fourteen miles from 
Rome, on the road to Tivoli, is supplied with an unfailing 
stream of tepid water, impregnated with carbonic acid gas 
and saturated with carbonate of lime. The amount of 
carbonate of lime which the water is capable of holding 
in solution depends chiefly on three things : first, on the 
presence of carbonic acid ; secondly, on the high tem- 
perature of the water ; and thirdly, on its quantity. Now 
the carbonic acid is ever rising in bubbles to the surface 
and passing away ; the temperature of the water is lowered 
by contact with the cooler atmosphere ; and its quantity is 
diminished by evaporation. Thus the capacity which the 
water at first had for holding the carbonate of lime in solu- 
tion is notably diminished, and a part of the lime is pre- 
cipitated to the bottom in a solid form, or clings to the 
vegetable matter with which it comes in contact. 

A very simple and interesting experiment, made in the 
early part of the present century by Sir Humphrey Davy, 
will illustrate the rapidity with which the formation of solid 
stone is even now taking place. In the month of May he 
fixed a stick in the bed of the lake, and left it standing until 



ii6 Formation of Limestone in Ttiscany. 

the following April, when he found that it was covered with 
an incrustation of limestone several inches thick.* In 
precisely the same way new layers of Travertine are annu- 
ally deposited in the bed of the lake, and incrusted on its 
rocky margin ; and so the lake itself is becoming smaller and 
smaller from year to year. We are told that in the middle 
of the seventeenth century it was a mile in circuit, and now 
it is a little more than a quarter of a mile.f Here, therefore, 
we have an immense mass of compact limestone rock, built 
up by natural agents within the last two centuries. 

At Tivoli, about four miles beyond the Solfatara, and 
two miles from the quarries of Ponte Lucano, phenomena 
of the same kind are exhibited. The waters of the Anio, 
which are saturated with carbonate of lime, form, incrusta- 
tions of Travertine on the banks of the river ; and at the 
celebrated falls, w^here the whole volume of the stream leaps 
at a bound from a height of three hundred and twenty feet, 
the most beautiful stalactites are formed by the foam. 

The formation of Travertine is going on with no less 
activity in other parts of the Italian Peninsula. At the 
baths of San Filippo, in Tuscany, there are three warm 
springs which contain a very large amount of mineral 
matter in solution. The water which supplies the baths 
falls into a pond, where it has been known to deposit a 
solid stratum of rock thirty feei thick in twenty years. In 
the same neighborhood are the mineral baths of San Vi- 
gnone. The source from which the w^ater flows is situated 
on the summit of a hill not more than a few hundred yards 
from the high road between Sienna and Rome ; and so 
rapid is the formation of stone, that half a foot of solid 
Travertine is deposited every year in the pipe that conducts 
the water to the baths. At this spot we have a very good 
illustration of the argument we are now considering. As 

* Consolations in Travel, p. 127. 

•j- Handbook of Rome and its Environs : Murray, 1858, p. 325. 



Inference of Geologists, 1 1 7 

the stream of water flows down the slopes of the hill, a thin 
layer of Travertine rock is produced on the surface of the 
earth, almost Defore our eyes ; and so it was previous to our 
own time, and so it has been for ages, as history and tradi- 
tion testify. The quantity produced in each year and in each 
century is comparatively small, but we can have no doubt 
that it has been produced by the means described. Now, 
beneath the surface of the Earth, immediately below these 
modern formations, of which we have so clearly ascertained 
the origin, we find strata of the same kind, composed of 
the same materials, and arranged in the same way, layer 
resting upon layer, down to a depth of two hundred feet : 
and the Geologist accounts for the formation of the one 
according to the same laws which he has seen at work in 
the production of the other.* 

*Lyel], Principles of Geology, vol. i., 400-3. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



STRATIFIED ROCKS OF ORGANIC ORIGIN- 
ANIMAL LIFE. 



-ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 



Nature of organic rocks — Carbonate of lime extracted from 
the sea by the intervention of minute animalcules — Chalk 
rock — Its vast extent — Supposed to be of organic origin— A 
stratum of the same kind now growing up on the floor of 
the Atlantic ocean — Coral reefs and isla?ids — Their general 
appeara7ice — Their geographical distribution — Their or- 
ganic origin — Structure of the zoophyte — Various ilhistra- 
tions — Agency of the zoophyte in the construction of coral 
rock — How the sunken reef is converted into an island and 
peopled with plants and animals — Difficulty proposed and 
considered — Hypothesis of Mr. Darwin — Coral limestoiie i?i 
the solid crust of the earth. 

E now pass to the third division of Aqueous Rocks, 
those, namely, which are believed to have come 
into existence chiefly through the agency of ani- 
mal and vegetable life, and are therefore called Organic. 
The study of these rocks has been prosecuted with no 
inconsiderable ardor during the last thirty years ; and the 
facts which have been brought to light are certainly amongst 
the most curious and interesting in the whole range of phys- 
ical science. Indeed we are convinced that a simple narra- 
tive of the researches which have recently been made upon 
this subject, and the discoveries to which these researches 
have led, would be no less attractive, and scarcely less 
wonderful, than a fairy tale. But it is not for us to wander 
at large over this vast and tempting field of inquiry. We 




The Prese7it Operatio7ts of Nature. 1 19 

must be content with one or two examples, which may help 
to illustrate the process of inductive reasoning upon which 
the general principles of geological science are founded. 

It is argued, then, that the present operations of Nature 
afford the best key for the interpretation of her works in 
bygone times. We observe various beds of rocks now in 
course of formation on the surface of the Earth ; and 
within the Crust of the Earth we discover corresponding 
strata of the self-same rock already complete, and laid by, 
as it were, in Nature's storehouse. Side by side, therefore, 
we may study and compare the finished work and the work 
that is yet in progress ;- and if, on a close examination, they 
are found to agree in all essential characters, we have 
doubtless a strong presumption, that the same causes which 
are now producing the one, must in former times have pro- 
duced the other. This line of argument we have already 
considered in reference to those two classes of Aqueous 
Rocks, which are said to be respectively of Mechanical and 
of Chemical origin. We now proceed to show that it is no 
less applicable to those which are called Organic. And al- 
though we may not hope to unfold all the secret wonders of 
Nature's laboratory, that have come to light in recent times, 
yet we may afford a passing glimpse at her operations, which 
can scarcely fail to be interesting and instructive. 

We have shown how strata of solid rock are sometimes 
formed in lakes by the precipitation of lime from a state of 
solution. Now this process cannot take place in the sea ; 
for though lime is present In the sea, the quantity of car- 
bonic acid with which it is there associated, is far more than 
sufficient to render its precipitation impossible.* But 
Nature has another contrivance for gathering together the 
solid elements of her building. The depths of the ocean 
are teeming with life ; and countless tribes of minute 

* Jukes, Manual of Geology, p. 127. 



1 20 Chalk Rock of Europe. 

animals are furnished with the power of extracting the Hme 
from the waters they inhabit, and of reproducing it under a 
new form. Sometimes, through this mysterious operation 
of organic life, the lime is converted into a calcareous shell, 
like that of the oyster ; sometimes into a stony skeleton, as 
in the case of the numerous families of coral-producing 
animalcules. After death the soft, fleshy substance of these 
animals melts away and disappears ; but the limestone shells 
and skeletons remain, accumulating during the long course 
of ages to an almost incredible extent. And, if we are to 
believe Geologists, out of these accumulated materials, 
sometimes preserving their original form and structure, 
sometimes altered more or less by chemical action, some- 
times broken up into fragments by mechanical force, has 
been produced a very large proportion of the limestone 
rocks which occur so abundantly in the Crust of the Earth. 

No better illustration can be found than the white earthy 
limestone, familiar to every one under the name of chalk. 
An undulating stratum of Chalk Rock, attaining not unfre- 
quently a thickness of one thousand feet, may be said, 
speaking roughly, to underlie the southeastern half of 
England. Sometimes it appears at the surface : sometimes 
it dips downward, and forms a kind of great basin, over 
which are regularly spread out various other groups of 
Stratified Rocks. On the southern coast it rises to a height 
of several hundred feet above the level of the sea in a line 
of perpendicular cliffs, conspicuous from a distance by their 
dazzling whiteness. But the White Chalk of England is 
only an insignificant part of a great rock-formation, which 
may be traced over extensive areas throughout all Europe, 
from Ireland to the Crimea, from the Baltic Sea to the Bay 
of Biscay ; and which everywhere preserves in a remarkable 
degree the same mineral character, and presents to the eye 
the same general appearance. 

Now it had often been suggested by Geologists that this 



Atlantic Soundzjtp's. 121 



2> 



wide-spread formation derived its existence chiefly from the 
accumulated remains of organic life. For in many instances 
the broken shells of minute animalcules could be distinctly 
observed to constitute a part of the rock. And even where 
the organic structure could not be so clearly traced, the 
carbonate of lime composing the Chalk presented just that 
appearance which would naturally result from the decom- 
position of such shells. This theory, however, was long 
put forward with diffidence and received with incredulity. 
Even scientific men found it hard to persuade themselves 
that a solid rock of such great extent and thickness could 
have been the work of agents apparently so insignificant. 
But it has been confirmed and illustrated in a very interest- 
ing and unexpected manner within the last few years. 

When the project of connecting Europe and America by 
a telegraph cable was first set on foot, it became necessary 
to ascertain, as far as possible, the general configuration of 
the ocean bottom and the exact nature of the bed on which 
the cable was to lie. Accordingly in the year 1857 an ex- 
pedition was fitted out for this purpose under the command 
of Captain Dayman ; and a careful series of soundings was 
taken between Valentia, on the West Coast of Kerry, and 
Trinity Bay on the shores of Newfoundland. It was found 
that the floor of the ocean between Ireland and America is a 
vast irregular plain, and that by far the greater part is covered 
over with a kind of soft mud or ooze. Samples of this 
ooze were scooped up, even at the most profound depths, 
by means of an ingenious apparatus attached to the sound- 
ing-lines, and brought undisturbed to the surface. After- 
ward they were carried home to England and submitted for 
examination to Professor Huxley. The result has been to 
show that the materials of a limestone rock, resembling in. 
every essential feature the White Chalk of Europe, are 
being spread out at the present day over an area of immense 
extent on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. 

6 



12 2 Bed of the Atlantic Ocean, 

With the permission of our readers we shall allow Pro- 
fessor Huxley, as far as may be, to tell his own story.* 
As to the ocean floor itself, "It is," he says, "a prodigious 
plain — one of the widest and most even plains in the world. 
If the sea were drained off, you might drive a wagon all the 
way from Valentia to Trinity Bay. And, except upon one 
sharp incline about two hundred miles from Valentia, I am 
not quite sure that it would even be necessary to put the skid 
on, so gentle are the ascents and descents upon that long 
route. From Valentia the road would lie down hill for 
about two hundred miles to the point at which the bottom 
is now covered by 1 700 fathoms of sea-water. Then would 
come the central plain, more than a thousand miles wide, 
the inequalities of the surface of which would be hardly 
perceptible, though the depth of water upon it now varies 
from 10,000 to 15,000 feet; and there are places in which 
Mont Blanc might be sunk without showing its peak 
above water. Beyond this the ascent on the American side 
commences, and gradually leads for about three hundred 
miles, to the Newfoundland shore." 

The central plain here described, which has been since 
found to extend many hundred miles north and south of 
the cable line, is covered almost everywhere by that soft, 
mealy sort of mud of which we have already spoken ; and 
this, it is now confidently believed, is nothing else than a stra- 
tum of Chalk Rock in an early stage of formation. When 
thoroughly dried it assumes a whitish color, and exhibits 
a texture which even to the superficial observer appears 
closely to resemble fine chalk. Nay, we are told that if so 
disposed, one may take a bit of it in his fingers and write 
with it upon a blackboard. Like chalk, too, when chem- 
ically analyzed it is found to be almost pure carbonate of 
lime. 

* See his Lecture On a Piece of Chalk, delivered during the Meeting 
of the British Association at Norwich, i868. 



Chalk under the Microscope. 123 

But there is a yet more striking analogy between the 
mud of the Atlantic and the White Chalk of Europe. 
Both have been submitted to the magnifying power of the 
Microscope ; and, after an examination conducted with 
scrupulous care, a wonderful and almost startling identity 
of mineral, or rather we should say of organic, composition 
has been established betw^een them. To the naked eye 
Chalk is simply a soft, earthy sort of stone. But when a 
thin transparent slice is placed under the Microscope, the 
general mass is found to be made up of very minute parti- 
cles, in which are embedded a vast number of other bodies 
possessing a well-defined form and structure. These are of 
various sizes, but on a rough average may be said not to 
exceed a hundredth of an inch in diameter. Hundreds of 
thousands of them are sometimes contained in a cubic 
inch of Chalk, together with countless millions of the more 
minute granules. 

Professor Huxley succeeded in separating these bodies 
from the mass of granules in which they were embedded, 
and by examining them apart, he has ascertained still more 
fully their exact structure and composition. "Each one of 
them," he says, **is a beautifully constructed calcareous 
fabric, made up of a number of chambers communicating 
freely with one another. They are of various forms. One 
of the commonest is something like a badly-grown rasp- 
berry, being formed of a number of nearly globular cham- 
bers of different sizes congregated together. It is called 
Globigerina ; and some specimens of Chalk consist of little 
else than Globigerinae and granules." 

Previous to 1857 the Globigerinae of the Chalk were a 
matter of no small controversy among Geologists and 
Naturalists. Some contended that they were the organic 
remains — the shells or skeletons — of ancient animalcules. 
Others w^re disposed to regard them simply as aggregations 
of lime, which, so to speak, chanced to assume the form of 



124 Remarkable Identity of Composition 

these little chambered bodies ; though it was not easy to 
explain, on this hypothesis, how these chance concretions, 
however much they varied in size, preserved over the whole 
of Europe the same exact form and structure. But the 
controversy is now at an end. The specimens of the Atlan- 
tic ooze brought home by Captain Dayman, when exam- 
ined under the higher powers of the Microscope, are found, 
like Chalk, to be composed almost entirely of Globigerinae. 
And that no doubt may remain as to their organic origin, 
a portion of the fleshy integument of the little animalcules 
is seen, in many cases, still adhering to the calcareous 
skeleton. 

** Globigerinae of every size," we are told, "from the 
smallest to the largest, are associated together in the Atlan- 
tic mud, and the chambers of many are filled by a soft 
animal matter. This soft substance is, in fact, the remains 
of the creature to which the Globigerina shell, or rather 
skeleton, owes its existence — and which is an animal of the 
simplest imaginable description. It is, in fact, a mere 
particle of living jelly, without defined parts of any kind — 
without a mouth, nerves, muscles, or distinct organs ; and 
only manifesting its vitality to ordinary observation by 
thrusting out and retracting, from all parts of its surface, 
long filamentous processes which serve for arms and legs. 
Yet this amorphous particle, devoid of everything which, in 
the higher animals we call organs, is capable of feeding, 
growing, and multiplying ; of separating from the ocean 
the small proportion of carbonate of lime which is dissolved 
in sea-water ; and of building up that substance into a skel- 
eton for itself, according to a pattern which can be imitated 
by no other known agency." 

That the same process is going on in other parts of the 
ocean appears by observations made by Sir Leopold 
M'Clintock during the cruise of the Bulldog in i860. He 
discovered that a calcareous ooze having the consistency 



Between Chalk Rock and Atlantic Mud, I25 

of putty is spread out over extensive areas between the Fa- 
roe Islands and Iceland, and also between Iceland and 
Greenland. Of this mud about ninety-five per cent, is 
composed of Globigerinae, which in some instances were 
brought up actually living to the surface, and busily en- 
gaged in secreting, by their vital powers, carbonate of lime 
from the waters of the sea.* 

Professor Huxley goes yet one step further in following 
out the resemblance between the Chalk Rock that exists in 
the Crust of the Earth and the stratum of Chalk that is now 
growing up in the depths of the Adantic. Not only are 
the Globigerinae, of which the one is in great part com- 
posed, identical with the animalcules that make up about 
nine-tenths of the other, but even the minute granules that 
constitute the residue of each formation, correspond in a 
very remarkable manner. "In working over the sound- 
ings collected by Captain Dayman, I was surprised to find 
that many of what I have called the Granules of that mud 
were not, as one might have been tempted to think at first, 
the mere powder and waste of Globigerinae, but they had a 
definite form and size. I termed these bodies Coccoliths, 
and doubted their organic nature. Doctor Wallich verified 
my observation, and added the interesting discovery that, 
not unfrequently, bodies similar to these Coccoliths were 
aggregated together into spheroids, which he termed Cocco- 
spheres. So far as we knew, these bodies, the nature of 
which is extremely puzzling and problematical, were pe- 
culiar to the Atlantic soundings. 

'•'But a few years ago Mr. Sorby, in making a careful 
examination of the Chalk by means of thin sections and 
otherwise, observed, as Ehrenberg had done before him, 
that much of its granular basis possesses a definite form. 
Comparing these formed particles with those in the Atlantic 
soundings, he found the two to be identical ; and thus 

"*^ Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 318. 



126 Organic Origin of Chalk Demonstrated, 

proved that the Chalk, like the soundings, contains these 
mysterious Coccoliths and Coccospheres. Here was a fur- 
ther and a most interesting confirmation, from internal 
evidence, of the essential identity of the Chalk with modern 
deep-sea mud." 

We may, therefore, set it down as certain, first, that the 
formation of Chalk Rock is going on very extensively at 
the present day ; and secondly, that the chief agency em- 
ployed in its production is no other than the vital action of 
minute animalcules. This is no longer merely a plausible 
theory or an ingenious hypothesis : it is simply a matter of 
fact ascertained by direct observation. If then it is just and 
philosophical to ascribe like effects to like causes, the con- 
clusion is plain that the White Chalk of Europe came into 
existence in some far distant age by just such a process as 
that which is now in operation on the bed of the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

From the Chalk mud of the Atlantic we will now pass to 
the Coral Reefs that are growing up beneath the waters of 
the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. Every one has heard of 
Coral Reefs and Coral Islands ; yet we fancy many persons 
have but vague and indefinite notions about them. We 
shall, therefore, in the first place, give a brief account of 
their general appearance, their extent, and their geograph- 
ical distribution. Afterward we shall give some of the 
evidence which goes to show that these huge masses of 
rock owe their existence to the organic powers of minute 
living animalcules. 

The Coral Reef is familiar to the navigator of tropical 
seas under a great variety of forms, and in many different 
stages of development. In one case it is a chain of hidden 
rocks rising not quite to the level of the sea ; in another it 
appears just above the waters, but is washed over by each 
returning tide ; while in another it rises up beyond the 
reach of the waves, is clothed witli luxuriant vegetation, 



Coral Reefs. 127 

and inhabited by various species of animals, even by man 
himself- Again there is great diversity of outline among 
these rocks, whether they are sunk beneath the surface of 
the waters or lifted above them. But all may be reduced 
to four classes, of which we propose to give a short de- 
scription. 

First is the Atoll, or lagoon island. It is a circular strip 
of limestone rock enclosing a shallow lake within, and sur- 
rounded by a deep and often unfathomable ocean without. 
The scene presented by some of these circular reefs is de- 
scribed by travellers as equally striking for its singularity 
and its beauty. "A strip of land a few hundred yards wide 
is covered by lofty cocoa-nut trees, above which is the blue 
vault of heaven. This band of verdure is bounded by a 
beach of glittering white sand, the outer margin of which is 
encircled with a ring of snow-white breakers, beyond which 
are the dark heaving waters of the ocean. The inner beach 
encloses the still clear water of the lagoon, resting in its 
greater part on white sand, and, when illuminated by a 
vertical sun, of a most vivid green. " 

These lagoon islands are often found in groups stretch- 
ing, with little interruption, for many hundred miles across 
the ocean. The Maldives, for example, which lie a litde 
distance to the southwest of Hindostan, form a continuous 
chain, running due north and south, four hundred and 
seventy miles in length and fifty miles in breadth. Each 
successive link in this chain does not consist, as might be 
supposed, of a single circular reef, but it is rather a ring of 
small coral islets, sometimes more than a hundred in num- 
ber, each of which is itself a perfect Atoll or lagoon island 
such as we have just described. Of these miniature islets 
many are from three to five miles in diameter ; while the 
larger rings of which they form a part are from thirty to 
fifty. The Laccadive islands, a little more to the north, 
exhibit a similar arrangement, and indeed would seem tc 



128 Coral Reefs. 

be a continuation of the same group. In the Pacific are 
found some chains of coral islands yet more extensive ; as 
for instance the Dangerous Archipelago, which is upward 
of eleven hundred miles in length, and from three to four 
hundred in breadth ; but the islands within these spaces are 
thinly scattered, and insignificant in size. 

Sometimes the annular strip of coral rock encloses within 
itself a lofty island, which rises up from the centre of the 
lagoon. In this case it is called an Encircling Reef; the 
lagoon being simply a broad channel surrounding the island 
in the centre, and encompassed itself by the coral rock. An 
example occurs in the island of Vanikoro, celebrated for 
the shipwreck of La Peyrouse, where the Encircling Reef 
runs at a distance of two or three miles from the shore, the 
channel between it and the land having a general depth of 
between two and three hundred feet. The well-known 
mountainous island of Tahiti in the South Pacific Ocean is 
also encompassed by an Encircling Reef, from which it is 
separated by a broad belt of tranquil water. 

A third class of Coral Reefs consists of those which run 
parallel to the shores of continents or great islands, from 
which they are cut off by a broad channel, to which the 
sea has free access through certain open passages in the 
rock. They are called Barrier Reefs ; and differ from the 
former only in this, that they do not surround the land, but 
run parallel to it at a distance of some miles. The Great 
Barrier Reef of Australia offers a noble example. It has 
been described as a huge, massive, submarine wall or ter- 
race, fronting the northeastern coast of that continent, varying 
from ten to ninety miles in breadth, and extending, with 
some trifling interruptions, to a length of 1250 miles. 
Another reef of the same kind, 400 miles in length, faces 
the western coast of the long narrow island of New, Cale- 
donia. 

When a chain of Coral rocks approaches close to the 



Distribtttion of Coral Reefs. 129 

shore, so as to leave no intervening channel of deep water, 
they are called Fringing Reefs ; and these constitute the 
fourth and last class of the Coral formation. They prevail 
everywhere in tropical regions, and appear as banks of 
Coral encrusting the rocky shores of islands and continents. 

As regards the geographical distribution of Coral Reefs, 
the first circumstance that claims our notice, is that they 
are exclusively confined to the warmer regions of the globe. 
They exist in great profusion within the tropics, and are 
rarely to be found beyond the thirtieth parallels of lati- 
tude on each side of the Equator. The only remarkable 
exception is in the case of the Bermuda Islands in 32° 
north latitude ; but here, it is to be observed, the ocean is 
warmed by the waters of the Gulf Stream. Another singu- 
lar fact is the almost total absence of Coral Reefs from the 
Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the Bermudas, we believe, con- 
stitute here again the only exception. The Pacific, on the 
contrary, is wonderfully productive of coral ; also the 
Indian Ocean, the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, and the Red 
Sea. 

It may gratify, perhaps, the curiosity of some readers, if 
we add a word on the Red Coral which is now so favorite 
an ornament in the fashionable world. Though it never 
attains to the magnitude of those reefs and islands we have 
been describing, it partakes nevertheless of the same 
peculiar structure ; and no doubt is entertained that, like 
them, it derives its existence from animal life, in the manner 
we shall presently explain. It is produced chiefly in the 
Mediterranean, in the Red Sea, and in the Persian Gulf ; 
and is brought up from the great depths by means of a 
grappling apparatus attached to boats. The largest pieces 
have a shrub-like branching form, and are supposed to 
grow to the height of one foot in about eight years.* 

* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii., chap. xlix. ; Mantell, Wonders 
of Geology, Lecture vi. ; Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 130-3. 

6* 



1 30 Origin of Coral Reefs, 

So much for the existence of the Coral Formation. Next 
comes the question of its origin, with which, of course, 
we are chiefly concerned.. It is now the received beUef of 
all distinguished Naturalists, that these huge and wide- 
spread masses of limestone rock, against which the break- 
ers of the ocean are ever thundering in vain, are the work 
of tiny marine animalcules, and chiefly of those seemingly 
insignificant creatures known by the name of Polyps or 
Zoophytes. The Zoophyte, they tell us, is a mason who 
himself produces the stones that he employs in his building. 
*' He has neither plane, nor chisel, nor trowel ; there is no 
sound of hammer in his city. He erects mighty and 
enduring edifices, yet has no mechanical power by which 
to raise his rocks to their summits. He can answer thee 
nothing — no tongue, no eyes, no hands, no brains has he 
— yet from the caves of old ocean has he raised that which 
fills you with admiration."* Surely if all this be true, these 
countless myriads of animalcules call aloud to us from the 
depths of the ocean in language that cannot be mistaken : 
**Know ye that the Lord He is God ; it is He that hath 
made us, and not we ourselves."f 

The Zoophyte belongs to the simplest form of the animal 
creation. Its body consists merely of a pouch or stomach, 
with tentacles arranged round the margin, which it can ex- 
tend at pleasure to supply itself with food. In many species 
the individuals grow together on a common stem, from 
which new members are constantly shooting forth like buds 
from the branches of a tree. Hence the origin of the 
name Zoophyte, which literally means a plant-like animal. 
The common stem on which they grow is sometimes com- 
posed of a horny substance, but more generally it is pure 
carbonate of lime, which they secrete by the powers of. 

* Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons, by the Rev. Henry Duncan, D.D. ; 
Summer, p. 168. 
f Ps. xcix. 3. 



Examples of the Living Zoophyte, 1 3 1 

organic action from the waters of the sea. It forms, 
therefore, a kind of internal skeleton or framework, to 
which the soft, gelatinous parts of the animal adhere, 
pretty much as, in the case of other animals, the flesh 
adheres to the bones. Thus we have, as it were, a com- 
munity of living creatures, growing together upon one 
common stony framework, called a Polypidom or Polyp 
edifice, which they themselves build by the very fact of 
living. 

The peculiar structure of these wonderful little com- 
munities may perhaps be made more intelligible by the 
aid of a few illustrations. Figure 4 exhibits the branching 
skeleton and, at the extremities of the branches, the 
several Polyps by whose vital action the skeleton has been 
constructed. Some of the animalcules are shown in a state 
of activity, with their tiny arms spread out in search of 
food : others are withdrawn within their cells, and appear in 





Fig, 4. — Campanularia Gelatinosa. 



Fig. 5. — Gorgonia Patula. 



a state of repose. This species of Zoophyte, which is 
highly magnified in the figure, flourishes abundantly on 
the shores of Ireland and England. It has received the 
name of Campanularia, from the bell-like form of its 
cells. Our next cut represents a Gorgonia from the 



132 Examples of the Living Zoophyte, 

Mediterranean, which is also considerably magnified. The 
fleshy integument of this specimen is' of a brilliant red 
color : the Polyps are arranged in rows on each side of the 
stem, and are shown in a state of expansion. 

A mass of Coral animalcules, which are known by the 
name of Frustra Pilosa, is represented of the natural size 
in Figure 6. To the naked eye it seems like a piece of 
fine net-work, disposed around a fragment of sea-weed, 
which may be observed protruding in the upper part of our 
illustration. • With the aid of an ordinary magnifier the 





Fig. 6. — Frustra Pilosa. Fig. 7. — Madrepora Plantaginea. 

net-like surface is seen to abound in minute pores arranged 
with much regularity. Each of these pores is the cell of 
a Zoophyte. And if a fragment of Frustra be examined 
with a powerful microscope, when immersed in sea- water, 
the curious little inhabitants themselves may be seen darting 
in and out of their cells, expanding and contracting their 
long feelers, and exhibiting altogether a wonderful activity 
In the adjoining woodcut. Figure '7, is shown another 
interesting species of the arborescent Zoophyte. It be- 
longs to the family of Madrepores, and abounds in almost 
all Coral Reefs. Alive under water it appears clothed in a 



Red and Pink Coral. 133 

gelatinous coating of rich and varied hues. But when 
removed from its native element this gelatinous coating, 
which is the living animal substance, quickly melts away ; 
and, in some instances, runs off from the calcareous skele- 
ton in a kind of watery slime. 

A good idea of the celebrated red and pink Coral of com- 
merce, so much admired for its brilliant color, and the high 
polish of which it is susceptible, may be gathered from our 
next illustration. As in the other species to which we have 




Fig. 8. — Corallium Rubrum. 

referred, the calcareous skeleton is enveloped in a living 
gelatinous substance, from which the Zoophytes seem to 
shoot out like buds from the bark of a tree. Several of 
these animalcules are exhibited in our figure, in the active 
enjoyment of life ; gathering in, with their expanded tenta- 
cles, the elements of their stony edifice from the surround- 
ing waters. After death the fleshy integument is wasted 
away by the action of the sea ; and the framework that 
remains behind, washed ashore by the waves, or hooked 
up by the coral fisherman, is wrought into brooches, brace- 
lets, necklaces, and other ornaments of various kinds. 

5 



1 34 The Coral A^timal in Tropical Seas. 

Not a few varieties of the Coral-producing Zoophytes are 
to be found in actual living reality on our own coasts, 
where the curious student may examine for himself their 
habits and general structure. But it is in the warmer 
regions of the Earth that they are developed in the greatest 
numbers, and decked in the brightest hues. Those who have 
seen them through the crystal waters of tropical seas, swarm- 
ing in countless multitudes on the clear white sand below, 
speak with enthusiasm of their luxuriant profusion and of 
their striking beauty. Combining to a picturesque elegance 
of form a rich variety and pleasing harmony of colors, they 
present to the eye a scene which has been compared to a 
magnificent garden, laid out in diverse beds of rare and 
splendid flowers. 

So far we have spoken only of the Polypidom, that is to 
say, the community of Polyps living together on a common 
stem of their own construction. Now this Polypidom is 
the first element of the Coral Reef. In some species of 
Zoophytes, the Red Coral for instance, the calcareous stem 
never attains a size greater than that of a diminutive shrub. 
But in others, and they are very numerous, especially in 
tropical seas, there seems to be no limit to the growth of 
the solid stony framework. As the existing generation of 
Zoophytes is dying out, new individuals are ever budding 
forth, which continue unceasingly to secrete carbonate of 
lime, as their predecessors had done before them, from the 
waters of the ocean ; and thus the tree-like form spreads 
its branching arms on every side, growing upward and 
outward day by day. The soft gelatinous parts of those 
generations that have passed away are, in a short time, dis- 
solved, and the stony skeleton alone remains behind. 
Ages roll on : the calcareous framework, ever increasing 
in size, becomes at length a formidable rock ; and this rock 
is the Coral Reef. 

Let it not be supposed we are here advancing a theory : 



Growth of Coral Reefs. 1 3 5 

we are only stating a fact that has been established by close 
and repeated observations. All the phenomena exhibited 
in the development of the Polypidom, are exhibited no less 
plainly in every Coral Reef that has yet been examined. 
On the surface of the Reef are the living Zoophytes, cling- 
ing to the calcareous skeleton which is ever growing larger 
through the unconscious action of their vital functions ; 
while immediately beneath may be seen the same stony 
skeleton, already divested of its fleshy integument, and 
beginning to assume the appearance of compact and mas- 
sive rock. We can behold, therefore, the mason at work 
on the upper story of his building, and the structure 
already finished below. And so we have little less than 
ocular demonstration that the Coral Reef is the work of the 
Zoophyte. 

It must not be supposed, however, that in every part of 
the Coral Reef, the form and outline of the stony skeleton 
are exactly preserved. Fragments of the rock are broken 
off by the force of the waves, and mixed up with the com- 
minuted shells of oysters, mussels, and other crustaceous 
animals inhabiting the sam.e waters. In this way a sort of 
calcareous gravel, sometimes a calcareous paste, is formed, 
which fills up the interstices, and connects the tree-like 
coral into a compact rock. 

We have yet to explain how the Coral Reefs come, in 
many cases, to rise above the surface of the ocean, and to 
form dry land : for it has been found that the reef-building 
Zoophytes require to be continually immersed in salt water, 
and therefore, by their own efforts, they cannot raise their 
structure above the ordinary level of the sea. This question 
was for a long time involved in obscurity ; but it has been 
cleared up by the actual observations of Naturalists in 
modern times. The following description, which is given 
to us by Chamisso, the companion of Kotzebue on his 
voyages, will convey a good idea of the process by which a 



136 How Su7tken Reefs become Islands, 

sunken reef is often converted into a smiling, fruitful 
island. "When the reef is of such a height that it remains 
almost dry at low water, the corals leave off building. 
Above this line a continuous mass of solid stone is seen, 
composed of the shells of moUusks and echini, with their 
broken-off prickles and fragments of coral, united by cal- 
careous sand, produced by the pulverization of shells. 
The heat of the sun often penetrates the mass of stone 
when it is dry, so that it splits in many places, and the force 
of the waves is thereby enabled to separate and lift blocks 
of coral, frequently six feet long and three or four in 
thickness, and throw them upon the reef, by which means 
the ridge becomes at length so high that it is covered only 
during some seasons of the year by spring tides. After 
this the calcareous sand lies undisturbed, and offers to the 
seeds of trees and plants cast upon it by the waves, a soil 
upon which they rapidly grow, to overshadow its dazzling 
white surface. Entire trunks of trees, which are carried 
by the rivers from other countries and islands, find here at 
length a resting place after their long wanderings : with 
these come some small animals, such as insects and lizards, 
as the first inhabitants. Even before the trees form a wood, 
the sea-birds nestle here ; stray land-birds take refuge in 
the bushes ; and, at a much later period, when the work 
has been long since completed, man appears and builds 
his hut on the fruitful soil."* 

Another question that seems to call for some explanation 
is suggested by the well-known habits of the Zoophytes 
themselves. From the observations of Kotzebue and Dar- 
win it appears that those species which are most effective in 
the construction of Reefs cannot flourish at a greater depth 
than twenty or thirty fathoms ; whereas the coral rocks rise 
up in many cases from the bottom of an unfathomable 

* Kotzebue's Voyages, 18 15-18, vol. iii., pp. 331-33. 



Dai^zuins Hypothesis of Subsidence. 137 

ocean. How, then, it may be asked, have the foundations 
of these wonderful structures been laid ? This question 
opens a wide field for philosophical speculation ; and we 
freely admit that no theory of Coral Reefs can be regarded 
as complete and satisfactory, which does not furnish a 
reasonable answer. But so far as the purpose of our 
argument is concerned, it is quite sufficient if a stratum 
of solid limestone, twenty fathoms thick, has been formed 
mainly through the agency of these minute animalcules. 
And this conclusion, so abundantly demonstrated by facts, 
is left quite untouched by the difficulty to which we now 
refer. 

It will be interesting, however, to notice in passing the 
explanation of this phenomenon first suggested by Mr. 
Darwin, and now very generally accepted. He maintains 
that the whole Coral Reef — foundations and superstructure 
alike^-is, in most cases, the result entirely of organic 
agency. The reef-building Zoophyte always begins his 
labors in water that is comparatively shallow. But as he is 
building upward, it often happens that the bed of the sea 
is sinking downward in pretty nearly the same proportion ; 
and thus the reef is ever increasing in height from its origi- 
nal base, while the living mass of Zoophytes on its upper 
surface remains in about the same depth of water as when 
the building first began. 

This theory is supported by a vast amount of curious 
and ingenious reasoning. In the first place, there is 
nothing more remarkable in the physical conformation of 
the Globe, than the immense predominance of water over 
land throughout those extensive tracts of ocean where 
Coral Reefs abound. Now this is just what we should 
naturally expect if the hypothesis of Mr. Darwin were 
admitted ; for wherever the Crust of the Earth has been 
subsiding for many ages on a large scale, the domain of the 
sea must of necessity have been considerably enlarged, and 



138 Darwin'' s Hypothesis of Subsidence, 

that of the land contracted in proportion. Again, this 
hypothesis will be found to harmonize most perfectly with 
all the phenomena of Fringing Reefs, Barrier Reefs, Encir- 
cling Reefs, and Lagoon Islands. The Fringing Reef 
represents, as it were, the first stage of progress. The 
building operations have just commenced near the shore 
of some island or continent, and but litde space intervenes 
between the land and the incrusting wall of coral. Then, 
as the Crust of the Earth gradually subsides, the water en- 
croaches on the land, and forms a channel between it and 
the reef. Meanwhile the Zoophytes are at work, and the 
coral rock is growing upward as the foundation on which 
it rests is sinking downward : each year it is higher from 
the bed of the sea, and yet no nearer to the surface of the 
waters. And when at length the channel, which is ever 
growing wider and wider, has reached a certain limit, the 
Fringing Reef becomes a Barrier Reef, or if it encompasses 
an island, an Encircling Reef. Lastly, the Encircling 
Reef will finally become a Lagoon Island, when the high- 
est peaks of the land it encloses have slowly disappeared 
beneath the surface of the waters. 

In confirmation of this reasoning Mr. Darwin has pointed 
out numerous examples to illustrate each intermediate stage 
through which, according to his hypothesis, the Coral Reef 
must pass in the progress of its construction. He traces 
the gradual transition from the low bank of coral incrusting 
a rocky shore to the Encircling Reef that compasses round 
a lofty island, like Tahiti, with a broad channel between. 
Then he shows how this channel insensibly becomes wider 
and wider, encroaching more and more upon the land, 
until at length only a few high peaks remain above water. 
Finally he leads us on to the case of a perfect Atoll, withiri 
which no trace of land remains to be seen ; and the chan- 
nel, now become a lagoon, is encompassed by a Reef of 
Coral Rock that rises steeply from an unfathomed ocean. 



Coral Rocks in the Crust of the Earth. 139 

We do not mean to dwell upon this ingenious specula- 
tion, which would carry us too far from the object at which 
we are aiming. It seems to us, however, that the argu- 
ments in its favor are at least deserving of careful considera- 
tion ; and we may add that they receive new strength from 
the facts we shall have occasion hereafter to bring forward, 
when we come to speak of the undulating movements to 
which the Crust of the Earth has been subject at many 
different times, and in many different locahties, even within 
the historic period. 

The formation and structure of existing Coral Reefs be- 
ing once fairly established, Geologists have little difficulty 
in ascribing a similar origin to many of the limestone 
strata that are found in the Crust of the Earth. For though 
the internal texture has been considerably modified in the 
long course of ages, by chemical and other influences, 
nevertheless the stony skeletons of the reef-building Zoo- 
phytes can be distinctly recognized in great abundance. 
Indeed it is not an uncommon thing to meet with lime- 
stone rock exhibiting plainly to the eye all the appearance 
of Coral Reefs lifted up from the bed of the ocean. **The 
Oolite," says Doctor Mantell, "abounds in corals, and 
contains beds of limestone which are merely coral reefs 
that have undergone no change but that of elevation from 
the bottom of the deep, and the consolidation of their 
materials. The Coral-rag of Wilts presents in fact all the 
characters of modern reefs : the polypifera belong chiefly 
to the Astraeidae, the genera of which family principally 
contribute to the formations now going on in the Pacific. 
Shells, echinoderms, teeth, and bones of fishes, and other 
marine exuviae, occupy the interstices between the corals, 
and the whole is consolidated by sand and gravel, held 
together in some instances by calcareous, in others by sili- 
ceous infiltrations. Those who have visited districts where 
the Coral-rag forms the immediate subsoil, and is exposed 



140 Co7'al Rocks in the Crust of the Earth. 

to view in the quarries or in natural sections, must have 
been struck with the resemblance of these rocks to modern 
coral banks."* 

Even in many of our finest marbles the coral skeletons 
may be traced distinctly enough, and contribute not a little 
to that variegated color which is so much admired. Nay, 
it is recorded by ]\Ir. Parkinson that he discovered in a piece 
of solid marble, the animal membrane itself by which the 
lime was originally abstracted from the sea. He immersed 
the marble in dilute muriatic acid ; and he relates with de- 
light how, as the calcareous earth dissolved, and the car- 
bonic acid gas escaped, he observed the animal tissue 
begin distinctly to appear in the form of light, elastic mem- 
branes, f 

* Wonders of Geology, p. 648. 

"I" Organic Remains of a Former World, vol. ii., p. 16. 




CHAPTER IX. 

STRATIFIED ROCKS OF ORGANIC ORIGIN — ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
VEGETABLE LIFE. 

Origin of coal — Evident traces, of plants and trees in coal- 
mines — Coal made up of the same elements as wood — Beds 
of coal found resting upon clay in which are preserved the 
roots of trees — Insensible transition froi7t wood to coal — 
Forest-covered swayjtps— Accumulations of drift-wood in 
lakes and estuaries — Peat bogs — Beds of Lignite — Seams of 
pure coal with half-carbonized trees, some lying prostrate, 
some standing erect — Summary of the argumetit hitherto 
pursued — Objection to this argument from the Omnipotetice 
of God — Answer to the objection. 

IS animals, by organic action, extract lime from the 
waters of the ocean they inhabit, which, being 
converted in the first instance into minute shells, 
or stony skeletons, afterward passes into a compact and 
solid rock, so in like manner do plants and trees extract 
carbon from the atmosphere in which they vegetate, and 
convert it into coal. No reasonable doubt can now be 
entertained that coal derives its existence, almost entirely, 
from the woody tissue of sunken swamps and forests. 
Though the nature of the process by which this transforma- 
tion takes place, is yet but imperfectly understood, and is, 
indeed, at the present moment a subject of much discussion 
and controversy, nevertheless the fad that the change has 
taken place is fully accepted by all as an established truth, 
and is supported by an accumulation of evidence which it 
is not easy to resist. 




142 Lnpressio7is of Plants and Trees in CoaL 

The first circumstance to which we shall call attention, 
is the wonderful profusion of vegetable life that is always 
associated with coal. Every one who has descended at 
any time into a coal mine, or who has examined the speci- 
mens usually exhibited in a well-furnished museum, must 
have been struck by the countless forms of trees and plants, 
which still remain vividly impressed on this black and un- 
sightly mineral. Dr. Buckland has described this phe- 
nomenon with much vigor and beauty in his celebrated 
Bridgewater Treatise: "The finest example I have ever 
witnessed is that of the coal mines of Bohemia just men- 
tioned. The most elaborate imitations of living foliage 
upon the painted ceilings of Italian palaces, bear no com- 
parison with the beauteous profusion of extinct vegetable 
forms with which the galleries of these instructive coal 
mines are overhung. The roof is covered as with a canopy 
of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most 
graceful foliage, flung in wild irregular profusion over 
every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened by 
the contrast of the coal-black color of these vegetables 
with the light ground-work of the rock to which they are 
attached. The spectator feels himself transported, as if 
by enchantment, into the forests of another world ; he be- 
holds trees of forms and characters now unknown upon 
the surface of the earth, presented to his senses almost in 
the beauty and vigor of their primeval life ; their scaly stems 
and bending branches, with their delicate apparatus of 
foliage, are all spread forth before him, little impaired by 
the lapse of countless ages, and bearing faithful records of 
extinct systems of vegetation, which began and terminated 
in times of which these relics are the infallible historians." 

The next important fact that points to the vegetable 
origin of Coal is, that wood and Coal are both composed 
of the same ultimate elements — carbon, hydrogen, and 



144 Chemical Composition of Wood a7id Coal. 

oxygen. This analogy is the more remarkable when we 
are told that no other rock except Coal exhibits anything 
approaching to this composition. It is true that the ele- 
ments just enumerated do not exist in the same proportions 
in wood and in Coal. But the difference, when rightly 
understood, rather tends to confirm our theory that the one 
is derived from the other. There is more Carbon in Coal 
than in wood ; while there is less oxygen and less hydrogen. 
To explain how this may have come to pass during the 
process of transition, we must call in the assistance of the 
chemist. It appears from the researches of Liebig that, 
when vegetable matter is buried in the earth, exposed to 
moisture, and partially or entirely excluded from the air, 
the process of decomposition sets in, and that under this 
process carbonic acid gas and carbu retted hydrogen gas are 
slowly evolved. At the same time a portion of the oxygen 
when set free would naturally enter into a new combination 
with a portion of the hydrogen, and form' water. The 
result of these several changes would necessarily be, that 
the accumulation of vegetable matter buried in the earth 
would part, in course of time, with no small share of its 
carbon, its hydrogen, and its oxygen, but not with all in 
the same proportions : for the new combinations would 
use up more of the oxygen than of the hydrogen, and 
more of the hydrogen than of the carbon.* In other 
words, if the process should have gone on for a sufficient 
lapse of ages, these elements would no longer exist to- 
gether in the proportions which are necessary to constitute 

* Carbonic acid gas contains two equivalents of oxygen to one of car- 
bon, the chemical expression for the compound being GOo ; carburetted 
hydrogen, which is the gas we employ in illuminating our streets and 
houses, contains four equivalents of hydrogen to two of carbon, and is 
chemically expressed by the symbols CoHi j water is composed of one 
equivalent of oxygen, and one of hydrogen, the symbolic form being HO. 



Choka-Danip and Fire- Damp. 146 . 

wood, but would rather exist in the proportions which are 
found to constitute coal.* 

This explanation is confirmed by a fact with which our 
readers are no doubt familiar. According to the explan- 
ation, carbonic acid and carburetted hydrogen are evolved 
during the process by which coal is produced from wood. 
We should therefore expect to find these gases closely asso- 
ciated with Coal. If they are noi so associated, their ab- 
sence is a serious objection against our theory ; but if they 
are so associated, their presence is a strong evidence in its 
favor. Now on this point, as every one knows, practical 
miners bear testimony that the fact corresponds exactly with 
our theory. They tell us that reservoirs of Choke-damp, 
which is carbonic acid, and of Fire-damp, which is car- 
buretted hydrogen, are found very commonly pent up in 
the crevices and cavities of coal beds, and are the cause, 
when tapped, of many of the accidents which take place. 
They even assure us that some beds of coal are so saturated 
with gas that, when cut into, it may be heard oozing from 
every pore of the rock, and the coal is called singing coal 
by the colliers, f 

To sum up* then, what we have said on this point : it 
appears, first, that the same constituent elements are found 
in wood and Coal ; secondly, though they do not exist in 
the same proportions in the two substances, the difference 
is fully accounted for by the changes which we should 
naturally expect to take place when large accumulations of 
vegetable matter are buried in the earth ; thirdly, in the 
hypothesis of these changes, carbonic acid and carburetted 
hydrogen would certainly be developed ; and in point of 
fact, these gases are found intimately associated with Coal 
all over the world. 

* See Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 138-141 j Lycll, Elements of 
Geology, p. 500. 

f Jukes, Manual of Geology, p. 140. 

7 



146 Alternate Beds of Coal and Clay. 

There is another remarkable fact which fits in most ad- 
mirably with our theory. Coal is found at the present day 
in the Crust of the Earth, disposed in thin seams or beds, 
and each bed is almost uniformly found to rest upon a 
stratum of fine clay, sometimes several feet in thickness. 
This is just what our theory would lead us to expect. If 
coal is produced from plants and trees, these plants and 
trees must have grown upon some suitable soil ; and, there- 
fore, in this hypothesis we should expect, ordinarily speak- 
ing at least, to find a bed of clay beneath every bed of coal. 
But this is not all. When we examine more closely the 
stratum on which the coal reposes, we find the roots and 
stems of trees mingled with the clay in the greatest pro- 
fusion. In the Welsh coal field, in a depth of twelve thou- 
sand feet, there are from fifty to a hundred beds of coal, each 
lying on a stratum of clay abounding in these remains.* 

We now come to an argument of apractical kind which 
appeals to common sense and common experience. Let us 
suppose that a person wholly unacquainted with the art of 
fnanufacturing paper, were to enter a paper-mill when the 
workmen are away, and the process of manufacture for a 
time suspended. At first sight he would probably find it 
difficult to persuade himself, that the piles of clean white 
paper, which attract his notice at one end of the building, 
are produced from the heaps of filthy rags which he sees 
accumulated at the other. But if he be a sagacious observer, 
he will soon find evidence to convince him that this is 
really the case. For he will perceive, upon close examina- 
tion, that the self-same material is exhibited in every inter- 
mediate state of progress from one extreme to the other. 
First, there is the great, chest with its numerous compart- 
ments, in which the rags are seen carefully sorted, accord- 

* See Mantell, Wonders of Geology, pp. 680-2; also 7605 Lyell, 
Elements of Geology, 464, 465. 



Gradual Transition from Wood to Coal. 147 

ing to their various degrees of quality and texture. Next 
comes the fullin-gmill, where they are washed and bleached. 
Then the revolving cylinder, furnished on the exterior sur- 
face with sharp blades or cutters ; and the vat in which it 
moves is filled with the rags, which now assume the form 
of a thin liquid pulp. Advancing still further he will see 
this pulp evenly spread out upon a wire-gauze frame, and 
now at last it is beginning to exhibit some likeness to the 
form and substance of paper. Further on it is seen pressed 
and dried ; and- last of all cut into sheets and laid aside in 
lofty piles. 

Now it seems to us that we are placed in somewhat of 
the same position, as regards the manufacture of Coal. 
We cannot observe the process actually going on ; for 
though, in this process, the work is never suspended, the 
workmen never at rest, yet extending as it does over a space 
of many centuries, it is too slow to be sensible ; and be- 
sides it is conducted in great part beneath the surface of 
the Earth. Nevertheless, we can trace the progress of 
change through each intermediate stage of the transition, 
from one extreme to the other, — from the primeval swamps 
and forests through the numerous varieties of the Peat and 
Lignite to the richest beds of pure Coal. 

First, then, we have the great forest-covered swamps, 
like those which now occupy the valley and delta of the 
Mississippi. They are composed in many cases of pure 
vegetable matter without any intermixture of earthy sedi- 
ment. A dense growth of reeds, and shrubs, and herbage of 
every kind, covers the whole surface of the land, mixed up 
with the decaying leaves and prostrate trunks of forest-trees. 
Sir Charles Lyell mentions a very remarkable fact observed 
in the swamps of Louisiana. During an unusually hot 
season, when any part of a swamp is dried up, if the sur- 
face be set on fire, a pit is burned into the ground many 



148 AccumMlatioits of Drift-wood, 

feet deep, in fact, as far down as the fire can descend 
without meeting water ; and it is then found that scarcely 
any residuum or earthy matter is left.* 

Vegetable strata of this kind are produced, not only upon 
dry land by the growth and decay of forests, but also be- 
neath the waters of lakes and estuaries, by the accumula- 
tion of Drift-timber borne along in the current of swollen 
rivers. The Mackenzie River, which drains a great part 
of Northwestern America, aifords many admirable illustra- 
tions. Flowing as it does from south to north, it is sub- 
ject to annual inundations when the snows begin to melt 
in the higher parts of its course, while the channel lower 
down, situated in colder latitudes, is still blocked up with 
ice. At this season then it overflows its banks, and sweep- 
ing through vast forests, carries away thousands of uprooted 
trees in its impetuous torrent. 

'*As the trees," says Dr. Richardson, ''retain their 
roots, which are often loaded with earth and stones, they 
readily sink, especially when water-soaked ; and accumu- 
lating in the eddies, form shoals, which ultimately aug- 
ment into islands. A thicket of small willows covers the 
new-formed island as soon as it appears above water, and 
their fibrous roots serve to bind the whole firmly together. 
Sections of these islands are annually made by the river ; 
and it is interesting to study the diversities of appearances 
they present according to their different ages. The trunks 
of the trees gradually decay until they are converted into a 
blackish-brown substance resembling peat, but still retain- 
ing more or less of the fibrous structure of the wood ; and 
layers of this often alternate with layers of clay and sand, 
the whole being penetrated, to a depth of four or five yards 
or more, by the long fibrous roots of the willows. A depo- 
sition of this kind, with the aid of a little infiltration of 

* Elements of Geology, p. 488. 



Accumulations of Drift -wood, 149 

bituminous matter, would produce an excellent imitation 
of Coal, with vegetable impressions of the willow roots. 

"It was in the rivers only that we could observe sections 
of these deposits ; but the same operation goes on, on a 
much more magnificent scale, in the lakes. A shoal of 
many miles in extent is formed on the south side of Atha- 
basca Lake by the Drift-timber and vegetable debris brought 
down by the Elk River ; and the Slave Lake itself must in 
process of time be filled up by the matters daily conveyed 
into it from Slave River. Vast quantities of Drift-timber are 
buried under the sand at the mouth of the river, and enor- 
mous piles of it are accumulated on the shores of every 
part of the lake." 

Not unfrequently it happens that these strata of vegetable 
matter, with the roots and trunks of trees, their branches, 
fruits, and leaves, more or less perfectly preserved, are 
covered over by subsequent deposits. Such accumula- 
tions, we are assured by Doctor Mantell, have been found 
deep in the soil on the coast of England, in places that are 
still subject to periodical inundations. "The trees are 
chiefly of the oak, hazel, fir, birch, yew, willow, and ash ; 
in short, almost every kind that is indigenous to this island 
occasionally occurs. The trunks and branches are dyed 
throughout of a deep ebony color by iron ; and the wood 
is firm and heavy, and occasionally fit for domestic use ; in 
Yorkshire and elsewhere, timber of this kind is sometimes 
employed in the construction of houses."* Here, then, 
is the first stage of the conversion of wood into Coal, — a 
stratum more or less compacted together of vegetable mat- 
ter, spread out sometimes over the surface of the dry land, 
sometimes on the floor of lakes and estuaries, and often 
buried beneath an accumulation of subsequent deposits. 

The next stage in the process of transformation may be 
represented by those Peat Bogs which constitute one of the 

* Mantell, Wonders of Geology, p. 67. 



1 5o Peat Bogs in Ireland. 

most remarkable physical characteristics of Ireland, cover- 
ing as they do an area equal to one-tenth of the whole 
island. In these the vegetable matter is more closely con- 
densed, but the structure of the plants from which the Peat 
is derived is still preserved, and may be distinctly recog- 
nized by the naked eye. Nay, we have still the prostrate 
trunks of trees lying around on every side as they fell to 
the ground in their ancient forests. The researches recently 
pursued upon this subject have brought to light a fact which 
is very much to our present purpose ; for it seems to prove 
our thesis by direct evidence. /'In Limerick, in the dis- 
trict of Maine, one of the States of North America, there 
are Peat Bogs of considerable extent, in which a substance 
exactly similar to cannel coal is found at the depth of three 
or four feet from the surface amidst the remains of rotten 
logs of wood and heaver sticks : the peat is twenty feet thick, 
and rests upon white sand. This coal was discovered on 
digging a ditch to drain a portion of the bog, for the pur- 
pose of obtaining peat for manure. The substance is a 
true bituminous coal, containing more bitumen than is 
found in any other variety. PoHshed sections of the com- 
pact masses exhibit the peculiar structure of coniferous 
trees, and prove that the coal was derived from a species 
allied to the American Fir." * A similar phenomenon was 
observed by Doctor Dieffenbach in the Chathain Islands. 
In the same bed of peat he was able distinctly to trace a 
gradual transition from pure vegetable matter to a mineral 
substantially identical with common coal.f 

But though Peat may thus, as it should seem, pass di- 
rectly into pure Coal, there are many cases in which it first 
assumes a more imperfect form, known under the name of 
Lignite. This substance is described as of a brownish 
color, "soft and mellow in consistence when freshly 
quarried, but becoming brittle by exposure, the fracture 

* Mantell, Wonders of Geology, p. 66. f Id. lb. 



Transition from Lignite to Coal. i5i 

following the direction of the fibre of the wood."* It 
clearly occupies an intermediate position between Peat and 
Coal. Like the former, it still exhibits the stems and 
woody fibre of the plants from which it is derived, very 
little altered in their structure ; while on the other hand it 
is already beginning to acquire some of the consistency and 
density of Coal ; to which also it approaches much more 
closely in its chemical composition. It should be remem- 
bered, moreover, that Lignite does not designate a sub- 
stance of a fixed, invariable character. On the contrary, 
under the one general name are comprised a definite num- 
ber of varieties, leading from one extreme to the other by a 
series of almost insensible gradations ; the extreme variety 
on one side being scarcely distinguishable from Peat, while 
the extreme variety on the other is practically identical 
with ordinary Coal. It can hardly be doubted, therefore, that 
Coal must have the same origin as Lignite, while it is at 
least equally certain that Lignite has been derived from 
Peat ; and we have already seen what overwhelming evi- 
dence may be adduced to show that the origin of Peat is to 
be sought for in the sunken swamps and forests, of a long 
past age. 

Lastly, when we come to examine the texture of Coal 
itself, we find much to confirm the conclusion at which we 
have thus arrived. In beds of pure Coal the remains of 
many species of plants have been detected, and sometimes 
in such abundance as to constitute visibly the bulk of the 
Coal. Even large trees are sometimes found standing 
'erect in the Coal fields, with their bark actually converted 
into this mineral. The annexed Figure represents a portion 
of the stem, together with the roots of a tall forest tree, 
Sigillaria, discovered not long ago in a Coal mine at Saint 
Helens, near Liverpbol. The stem, which was nine feet 
high, was found erect in the seam of Coal, while the roots, 

* Chemical Technology, Ronalds and Richardson, vol. i., p. 32. 



1 5 2 Trees standing erect in Coal, 

ten in number, stretched away into the vegetable soil be- 
neath. 

Not less than thirty such trees, some of them four or five 
feet in diameter, and all incrusted with Coal, were laid bare 
a short time since, in a Colliery near Newcastle, within an 
area of fifty yards square. "In 1830," writes Sir Charles 
Lyell, " a slanting trunk was exposed in Cragleith quarry, 




Fig. 1 1 . — Stem and roots of a Forest Tree, Sigillaria. 
mine, near Liverpool. 

a, The trunk traversing a bed of Coal. 

b^ The roots spreading out in the underclay. 



From a Coal- 



near Edinburgh, the total length of which exceeded sixty 
feet. Its diameter at the top was about seven inches, and 
near the base, it measured five feet in its greater, and two 
feet in its lesser, width. The bark was converted into a thin 
coating of the purest and finest Coal." Again, "in South 
Staffordshire, a seam of Coal was laid bare in the year 1844, 
in what is called an open work at Parkfield Colliery, near 
Wolverhampton. In the space of about a quarter of an 
acre, the stumps of 110 less. than seventy-three trees, with 



Forest Trees converted into Coal. 1 5 3 

their roots attached, appeared, some of them more than 
eight feet in circumference. The trunks, broken off close 
to the root, were lying prostrate in every direction, often 
crossing each other. One of them measured fifteen, an- 
other thirty feet in length, and others less. They were 
invariably flattened to the thickness of one or two inches, 
and converted into Coal. Their roots formed part of a 
stratum of Coal ten inches thick, which rested on a layer 
of clay two inches thick, below which was a second forest 
resting on a two-foot seam of Coal. Five feet below this 
again was a third forest, with large stumps of Lepidoden- 
dra, Calamites, and other trees. " * 

We have now brought to a close a very important line 
of argument in the Science of Geology. We have pointed 
out that, in the strata which compose the Crust of the Earth, 
there are rocks of various kinds, distinguished from one 
another as well by the nature of the materials which com- 
pose them, as by the manner in which these materials are 
arranged together ; and we have shown that rocks present- 
ing the same general appearances, and composed of ex- 
actly the same materials, are being produced in the present 
age upon the Surface of the. Earth, through the agency of 
natural causes. Moreover, we have closely examined, in 
certain cases, the nature of the process by which the forma- 
tion of these rocks is accomplished at the present day ; and 
we have seen how difficult it is, when the facts of the case 
are once clearly before us, to resist the conclusion that the 
rocks which we now find buried in the Earth, were pro- 
duced in some former age, by the same causes which are 
still at work. We shall next proceed to inquire how far 

* See Lyell, Elements of Geology, 477-8 i ; Jukes, Manual of Geology, 
138, 149-53; T^^ English Cyclopaedia, Natural History Department, 
Article, Coal ; Mantell, Fossils of the British Museum, Chapter i., 
Part I. 



1 54 Prejudice against Geological Reasoning. 

this conclusion is confirmed by the independent evidence 
of Fossil Remains. 

But before entering on a new line of argument, it is fit we 
should take notice of an objection which has sometimes 
been urged against the reasoning we have hitherto pur- 
sued, and which has done much to create and to keep 
alive a prejudice unfavorable to the Science of Geology. 
Religious writers have not unfrequently insinuated, and 
sometimes have plainly asserted, that, in ascribing the pres- 
ent structure of the Earth's Crust to the operation of natural 
causes, Geologists would seem to make no account of 
God's Omnipotence. A moment's reflection will convince 
the reader that this charge is utterly unphilosophical. Is it 
not plain that the more fully we appreciate and acknowl- 
edge the wonderful works of Nature, the more deeply must 
we become impressed with the power and wisdom of Him 
who is the Author and Ruler of Nature.? To say that 
secondary causes exist, and to point out the monuments that, 
bear witness to their operation in long passed ages, is not to 
deny, but rather to affirm tlie existence of a Great First 
Cause, upon whom they all depend for their existencCj 
their preservation, and their guidance. 

We are everywhere reminded by abundant evidence, that 
it has pleased the Great Creator to employ the agency of 
His creatures in the fashioning and the adorning of this 
material universe. He does not create at once, as He well 
might do, the great oak of the forest ; but He allows the 
seed to sink into the earth, where it is watered by the gentle 
dews of Heaven, and fructified by the genial warmth of the 
sun ; soon it puts forth a tender germ ; the germ, in time, 
imbibing the elements of its support from the air and the 
earth, becomes a sappling, and the sappling a tree, which, 
spreads its huge branches on every side, and serves for 
many purposes of ornament and of use. Or let us take the 
case of the honeycomb, that most curious and ingenious 



God magnified by Geology. 1 55 

work, at once the palace and the storehouse of a vast and 
busy community. It is not produced in a moment by a 
simple act of creation. God has not made it Himself, 
but He has taught the bee to make it. In like manner He 
has provided for the little birds, not by building their nests, 
but by infusing into their nature that mysterious instinct 
which prompts them to build, and guides them in their 
work. 

Geologists, therefore, when they undertake to explain the 
existence of Stratified Rocks, not by the immediate action 
of the Creator, but by the intervention of natural causes, 
are not on that account to be accused of impiety. They 
do not disparage, but rather magnify His glory, when they 
expatiate upon the endless variety of agents which, accord- 
ing to their theory, He has employed in the structure of the 
material world. If the honeycomb, as a work of contriv- 
ance and design, excites the wonder and admiration of the 
philosopher, what must we think of the contrivance and 
design exhibited by Him who has made, not the honey- 
comb only, but' the bee that builds the honeycomb .? And 
so, too, we get novel and unexpected views of God's 
Omnipotence, when, through the science of Geology, we 
come to understand the vast and harmonious series of 
secondar)^ causes by which he has brought the Crust of the 
Earth into its present form and shape. The impress of His 
hand is stamped upon His works ; and all that is wonderful 
and attractive in Nature is but the token of His power and 
the shadow of His beauty. And so our national poet has 
sung : 

"■ Thou art, O GOD, the Kfe and light 
Of all this wondrous world we see ; 
Its glow by day, its smile by night. 

Are but reflections caught from Thee. 
Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine. 
And all things fair and bright are Thine." 



CHAPTER X. 

FOSSIL REMAINS THE MUSEUM. 

Recapiiulatio7t — Scope of our argument — Theory of stratified 
rocks the framework of geological science — The theory brings 
geology into co?itact with revelatio7i — the line of reasoning 
hitherto pursued confirtned by the testimoity of fossil re?nai?is 
— Meaning of the word fossil — Inexhaustible abundance of 
fossils — Various states of preservation — Petrifaction — Expe- 
riments of Professor Goppert — Organic rocks afford some in- 
sight into the fossii world — The reality and significance of 
fossil reniains must be teamed from observation — The British 
Museum — Colossal skeletons — Bones and shells of animals — 
Fossil plants and trees. 

EADER, you are beginning to suspect us. ' How 
long do we propose to detain people ?' For any- 
thing that appears we may be designing to write 
on to the twentieth century. ' And whither are we going V 
Toward what object .? which is as urgent a quaere as, how 
far? Perhaps we may be leading you into treason. You 
feel symptoms of doubt and restiveness ; and like Hamlet 
with his father's ghost, you will follow us no further unless 
we explain what it is that we are in quest of." 

These words of Thomas De Quincey to his readers, in 
the middle of one of his discursive essays, which, interest- 
ing as they certainly are in all their parts, yet sometimes 
beget a feeling of weariness from the uncomfortable appre- 
hension that they will not come to an end, are, perhaps, 
scarcely less appropriate in our own case. It may be that 




Recapitulation. i5j 

our readers have been left too long in the uneasy state of 
suspense and hope deferred. They came to our pages to 
look for a practical solution of the question, Is Geology at 
variance with the Bible ? And what avails it, they may ask, 
to discourse to them of the Gulf Stream, and Rivers, and 
Glaciers, and Alluvial Plains, and Coral Rocks, and Coal 
Mines? With painful steps they have been toiling after us 
through tedious disquisitions, straining their eyes to see the 
end, but the end is not yet in sight. Well, then, if they 
will rest for a few minutes by the way, we will pause, too, 
and tell them what we are about, and try to bring out more 
clearly the object at which we are aiming. 

Our design from the beginning was to consider the 
points of contact between Geology and Revelation ; to ex- 
amine the relations that exist between these two depart- 
ments of knowledge, — one resting upon reason and obser- 
vation, the other given to us from Heaven ; and to inquire 
how far it may be possible to adopt the conclusions of the 
former, while we adhere, at the same time, with unswerv- 
ing fidelity, to the unchangeable truths of the latter. With 
this end in view, we proceeded at once to sketch out the more 
prominent features of Geological theory ; not the particular 
theory of one writer, or of one school, but that more gen- 
eral theory which is adopted by all writers, and prevails in 
every school. This theory, we were all well aware, is in 
many points widely at variance with the common notions 
of sensible, and even well-informed men who have not 
devoted much attention to the study of Physical Science. 
And it occurred to us that, possibly, many of our readers 
might be disposed to cut the controversy short by rejecting, 
in a summary way, the whole system of Geology, and treat- 
ing it as an empty shadow or an idle dream. This, we 
were convinced, would be a mistaken and mischievous 
course. Geology is not a house of cards that it may be 
blown down by a breath. It is a hypothesis, a theory, if 



1 5 8 Recap itulatio7i . 

you will ; but no one can in fairness deny that behind this 
theory there are facts, — unexpected, startling, significant 
facts ; that these facts, when considered in their relation to 
one another, when illustrated by the present phenomena of 
Nature, and skilfully grouped together, as they have been 
by able men, disclose certain general truths, and suggest 
certain arguments, which do seem to point in the direction 
of those conclusions at which Geologists have arrived. 

It follows that he who would investigate fairly the claims 
of Geology, must first learn to appreciate the significance 
of these facts, and to estimate the value of these arguments. 
And this is precisely what we have been trying to do. We 
are not writing a treatise on Geology. Certainly not : it 
would be presumptuous in us, with our scanty knowledge, 
to attempt it. Besides, Geology has it own professors, and 
its lecture-halls, and its manuals. Neither do we mean to 
assume the character of the advocates or champions of 
Geology. It does not ask our services ; in its cause are 
enrolled no small proportion of the most illustrious names 
which for the last fifty years have adorned the annals of 
Physical Science. • Nor do we want even to enforce upon 
our readers that more general theory of Geology which we 
are endeavoring to explain and illustrate. Our purpose is 
merely to collect from various sources, and to string to- 
gether, the evidence that may be adduced in its favor ; that 
so, when we come hereafter to consider this theory in its 
relation with the History of the Bible, we may not incur the 
risk of discomfiture by denying that which has been proved 
by facts, but rather approach the subject with such knowledge 
as may help us to discover the real harmony that we know 
to exist between the truths inscribed on the works of God, 
and those which are recorded in His Written Word. 

In the accomplishment of this task we have devoted our- 
selves chiefly to the study of the Aqueous or Stratified 
Rocks. According to Geologists, these rocks, such as we 



Theory of Stratified Rocks. 1 5 9 

find them now, were not the immediate work of crealion, 
but were slowly produced in the long lapse of ages, and 
laid out one above another, by a vast and complex ma- 
chinery of secondary causes. The elements of which they 
are composed were gathered together from many and vari- 
ous sources ; from the ocean, from the air, from other pre- 
existing rocks ; and, for aught we know, may have had a 
long and eventful history before they came to assume their 
present structure and arrangement. Thus, for example, 
the Conglomerates, and Sandstones, with which we are so 
familiar, are made up of broken fragments derived from 
earlier rocks, and then transported to distant sites by the 
mountain torrents, or the stately rivers of vast continents, 
or the silent currents of the sea ; the Limestone with which 
we build our houses is the work of living animals that once 
swarmed in countless myiiiads beneath the waters of the 
ocean ; and the Coal which supplies the motive power to 
our manufactories, our railways, our ships of war and com- 
merce, is but the modern representative of ancient swamps 
and forests, which, having been buried in the earth, and 
there, by the action of chemical laws, endowed with new 
properties, were laid by for the future use of man in the 
great storehouse of Nature. 

This mode of accounting for the origin and formation of 
Stratified Rocks constitutes in a manner the framework 
that supports and binds together the whole system of Ge- 
ology.. If it be once fairly established, Geology is entitled to 
take high rank as a Physical Science. If on the contrary it 
should prove to be without foundation, then Geology is nc 
longer a science, but a dream. Moreover, it is this theory 
of stratification which, from the first, has brought Geology 
into contact -with Revelation. iFor Geologists have been 
led to infer the extreme Antiquity of the Earth, from the 
immense thickness of the Stratified Rocks on the one hand, 
and, on the other, the very slow and gradual process by 



i6o Line of Reasoning hitherto Pursued. 

which each stratum in the series has been, in its turn, spread 
out and consohdated. Those likewise who claim for the 
Human Race a greraer Antiquity than the Bible allows, 
seek for their proofs in the supposed origin and antiquity 
of those superficial deposits, in which the remains of Man 
or of his works are sometimes found entombed. 

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the theory of 
Stratified Rocks should engage the largest share of our 
attention when we undertake to discuss the relation in 
which Geology stands to Revealed Religion. For the 
present we say nothing about the conclusions that flow from 
this theory, or the errors to which it has led when hastily or 
ignorantly applied : we are only investigating the evidence 
by which it is supported. In our former chapters we have 
drawn out at some length the line of reasoning which is 
derived from the character of the Aqueous Rocks them- 
selves when considered in the light of Nature's present 
operations. We have shown that Stratified Rocks of many 
different kinds, just such as those which compose the Crust 
of the Earth, have been produced by natural causes within 
historic times ; and we have explained some of the more 
simple and intelligible parts of that complex machinery, 
which, even now, is busily at work gathering, sorting, dis- 
tributing, piling up together, and consolidating the mate- 
rials of new strata all over the world. These considerations, 
as we took occasion to point out, beget a strong presump- 
tion in favor of Geological theory. Here we have Nature 
at work, actually bringing into existence a stratum of rock 
before our eyes. And there, in the Crust of the Earth, we 
find another stratum of precisely the same kind already fin- 
ished. What can be m.ore reasonable than to ascribe the one 
to the action of the same causes which we see at work upon 
the other.? And thus, by extending the area of our obser- 
vations from one class of Aqueous Rocks to another, the 
idea gradually grows upon us that these rocks have been 



Independent Testimony of Fossil Remains. 1 6 1 

spread out, stratum upon stratum, during many successive 
ages, by the agency of secondary causes similar to those 
which are still in operation ; and that each stratum, in its 
turn, as it first came into existence, was for a time the 
uppermost of the series. 

In support of this conclusion we are now about to bring 
forward a new and independent argument founded on the 
testimony of Fossil Remains. An eminent writer has 
summed up in a few words the value and importance of 
Fossil Remains in reference to Geological theory. "At 
present," he says, "shells,* fishes, and other animals are 
buried in the mud or silt of lakes and estuaries ; rivers 
also carry down the carcases of land animals, the trunks 
of trees, and other vegetable drift ; and earthquakes sub- 
merge plains and islands, with all their vegetable and 
animal inhabitants. These remains become enveloped in 
the layers of mud and sand and gravel formed by the 
waters, and in process of time are petrified, that is, are 
converted into stony matter like the shells and bones found 
in the oldest strata. Now, as at present, so in all former 
time must the remains of plants and animals have been 
similarly preserved ; and, as one tribe of plant is peculiar 
to the dry plain, another to the swampy morass ; as one 
family belongs to a temperate, another to a tropical region, 
so, from the character of the embedded plants, we are 
enabled to arrive at some knowledge of the conditidns 
undef which they flourished. In the same manner with 
animals : each tribe has its locality assigned it by peculi- 
arities of food, climate, and the like ; each family has its 
own peculiar structure for running, flying, swimming, 
plant-eating, or flesh-eating, as the case may be ; and by 
comparing Fossil Remains with existing races, we are 
enabled to determine many of the past conditions of the 
world with considerable certainty."* 

* Page, Advanced Text-Book of Geology, n. 7, pp. 20, 21. 



1 62 Meaning of the word Fossil, ■ 

On this branch of our subject we do not mean to offer 
much in the way of argument strictly so called. We shall 
content ourselves with a simple statement of facts, and 
leave them to produce their own impression. It will be 
necessary at the outset to explain some technical matters, 
that what we have to say hereafter may be the better under- 
stood : and if in this we are somewhat dry and tiresome, 
we will try to make amends by the curious and interesting 
story of Nature's long buried works, which we hope in the 
sequel to unfold. 

When the word Fossil was first introduced into the Eng- 
lish language, it was employed to designate, as the etymol- 
ogy suggests, whatever is dug out of the earth. * But it is 
now generally used in a much more restricted sense, being 
applied only to the remains of plants and animals em- 
bedded in the Crust of the Earth and there preserved by 
natural causes. When we speak of remains, we must be 
understood to include even those seemingly transient 
impressions, such as foot-prints in the sand, which having 
been made permanent by accidental circumstances, and 
thus engraved, as it were, on the archives of Nature, now 
bear witness to the former existence of organic life. 

Now in every part of the world where the Stratified 
Rocks have been laid open to view, remains of this kind 
are found scattered on all sides in the most profuse abun- 
dance. In Europe, in America, in Australia, in the ^ozen 
wastes of Siberia, in the countless islands scattered over 
the waters of the Pacific, there is scarcely a single formation, 
from the lowest in the series to the highest, that, when it is 
fairly explored, does not yield up vast stores of shells, to- 
gether with bones and teeth, nay, sometimes whole skele- 
tons of animals ; also fragments of wood, impressions of 
leaves, and other organic substances. 

* From the Latin Fossi/isy dug up. 



Fossils Preserved in various States. 163 

These Fossil Remains do not always occur in the same 
state of preservation. Sometimes we have the bone, or 
plant, or shell, in its natural condition ; still retaining not 
only its own peculiar form and structure, but likewise the 
very same organic substance of which it was originally 
composed. Examples innumerable may be seen in the 




Fig. ii_ — Fossil Irish Deer (County Fermanagh). In the Museum of 
Trinity College, Dublin. From Haughton's Manual of Geology 

British Museum, or, indeed, in almost any Geological col- 
lection : the fine skeletons of ancient Irish Deer, which 



164 Process of Petrifaction. 

are exhibited in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, 
and of which all the bones are in excellent preservation, 
must be familiar to many of our readers. 

It happens, however, more frequently that the organic 
substance itself has disappeared, but has left an impression 
on the rock, that now bears witness to its former presence. 
Thus, for instance, when a shell has been dissolved and 
carried away by water percolating the rock, it has very 
often left after it, on the hard stone, a mould of its outer 
surface and a cast of its inner surface, with a cavity between 
corresponding to the thickness of the shell. In such cases 
we have the form, the size, and the superficial markings of 
the organic body, but we have no part of its original 
substance, and no traces of its internal structure. This 
form of fossilization, as Sir Charles Lyell has well put 
it, "may be easily understood if we examine the mud 
recently thrown out from a pond or canal in which there 
are shells. If the mud be argillaceous, it acquires con- 
sistency in drying, and on breaking open a portion of it, 
we find that each shell has left impressions of its external 
form. If we then remove .the shell itself, we find within a 
solid nucleus of clay, having the form of the interior of 
the shell."* In many cases the space first occupied by the 
shell is not left empty when the shell has been removed, 
but is filled up with some mineral substance, such as lime 
or flint. The mineral thus introduced becomes the exact 
counterpart of the organic body which has disappeared ; 
and has been justly compared to a bronze statue, which ex- 
hibits the exterior form and lineaments, but not the internal 
organization nor the substance of the object it represents. 

There is a third form more wonderful still, in which 
Fossil Remains are not uncommonly found. The original 
body has passed away as in the former case, and yet not 
only does its outward shape remain, but even its inkrnai 

* Elements of- Geology, p. 38. 



Process of Petrifaction. i65 

texture is perfectly preserved in the solid stone which has 
taken its place. This kind of change is exhibited most 
remarkably in the vegetable kingdom. Fossil trees of 
great size have been discovered of which the whole substance 
has been changed from wood to stone : yet with such exquisite 
skill has the change been effected that the minute cells and 
fibres, and the rings of annual growth, may still be clearly 
traced ; nay, even those delicate spiral vessels which, from . 
their extreme minuteness, can be discerned only by the aid 
of the microscope. Thus the tree remains complete in all 
its parts ; but it is no longer a tree of wood ; it is, so to 
speak, a tree of stone. 

The mystery of this extraordinar}' transformation has not 
yet been fully cleared up by scientific men ; but the general 
principle, at least, is sufficiently understood. It is thus 
briefly explained by Sir Charles Lyell : " If an organic sub- 
stance is exposed in the open air to the action of the sun 
and rain, it will in time putrefy, or be dissolved into its 
component elements, consisting usually of oxygen, hydro- 
gen, nitrogen, and carbon. These will readily be absorbed 
by the atmosphere or be washed away by rain, so that all 
vestiges of the dead animal or plant disappear. But if the 
same substances be submerged in water, they decompose 
more gradually ; and if buried in the earth, still more slowly, 
as in the familiar example of wooden piles or other buried 
timber. Now, if as fast as each particle is set free by 
putrefaction in a fluid or gaseous state, a particle equally 
minute of carbonate of lime, flint, or other mineral is at 
hand and ready to be precipitated, we may imagine this 
inorganic matter to take the place just before left unoccu- 
pie'd by the organic molecule. . In this manner a cast of 
the interior of certain vessels may first be taken, and after- 
ward the more solid walls of the same may decay and 
suff"eralike transmutation."* This exposition, so simple 

* Elements of Geology, p. 40, 



1 66 Experiments ofProfessor Goppert. 

and luminous in itself, may, perhaps, be rendered still more 
intelligible to the general reader by an ingenious illustra- 
tion of Mr. Jukes. "It is," he says, " as if a house were 
gradually rebuilt, brick by brick, or stone by stone, a brick 
or a stone of a different kind having been substituted' for 
each of the former ones, the shape and size of the house, the 
forms and arrangements of its rooms, passages, and closets, 
and even the number and shape of the bricks and stones, 
remaining unaltered. "* 

This singular kind of petrifaction, by which not only 
the external form, but even the organic tissue itself, is con- 
verted into stone, has been illustrated, in a very interesting 
way, by Professor Goppert of Breslau. With a view to imi- 
tate as nearly as he could the process of Nature, ' ' he steeped 
a variety of animal and vegetable substances in waters, some 
holding siliceous, others calcareous, others metallic matter 
in solution. He found that in the period of a few weeks, 
or even days, the organic bodies thus immersed were min- 
eralized to a certain extent. Thus, for example, thin verti- 
cal slices of deal, taken from the Scotch fir, were immersed 
in a moderately strong solution of sulphate of iron. When 
they had been thoroughly soaked in the liquid for several 
days, they were dried and exposed to a red heat until the 
vegetable matter was burnt up and nothing remained but 
an oxide of iron, which was found to have taken the form of 
the deal so exactly that casts even of the dotted vessels pecu- 
liar to this family of plants were distinctly visible under the 
microscope, "f 

If we have succeeded in making ourselves understood, 
the reader will now have a pretty accurate notion of wJiat 

* Manual of Geology, p. 375. 

■j- Lyell, Elements of Geology, pp. 40-41. The reader will find a singu- 
larly clear and simple exposition of this subject in Doctor Haughton's 
Manual of Geology, Lecture III. ; an exposition which it was not our good 
fortune to have read until our own brief summary wao already in type. 



General Description of Fossil Remains, 167 

is meant, in modern Geology, by Fossil Remains. The)' 
are the remains or impressions of plants and animals, buried 
in the earth by natural causes, and preserved to our time in 
any one of the three forms we have just described. Either 
the body itself remains, still retaining its own natural sub- 
stance, together with its external form and its internal' struc- 
ture. Or secondly, the organic substance and the organic 
structure have both disappeared, but the outward form and 
the superficial markings have been left impressed on the 
solid rock. Or thirdly, the substance of the body has been 
converted into stone, but with such a delicate art, that it is 
in all respects, outwardly and inwardly, still the same body, 
with a new substance. We should observe, however, that 
these three diiferent forms of fossilization, which we have 
successively described, are not always clearly distinct in 
actual fossil specimens, but are often curiously blended 
together according as the original organic substance has been 
more or less completely displaced, or the process of petri- 
faction has been ip.ore or less perfectly accomplished. 

It will probably have occurred to the intelligent reader that 
we have already had some insight into the Fossil world, when 
investigating the origin of Organic Rocks. We have seen, for 
instance, that Coal is the representative to our age of swamps 
and forests which once covered the earth with vegetation : 
that Mountain Limestone is in great part formed from the 
skeletons of reef-building corals ; that the White Chalk of 
Europe is almost entirely derived from the remains of 
marine shells. But it should be observed that these and 
such like rocks, while they afford us much valuable infor- 
mation about the ancient organic condition of our planet, are 
not, strictly speaking, Fossil Remains. For, not only does 
the substance of the organic bodies they represent exhibit 
an altered character, but the internal structure has been in 
great part effaced, and even the outward forms and super- 
ficial markings have disappeared. They contain, it is true. 



1 68 A Visit to the Organic Remains 

great multitudes of Fossils. In the Coal, for example, are 
found, as we have seen, trunks of trees, together with the 
impressions of plants and leaves : in the Chalk and Mountain 
Limestone, fragments of shells and corals are often discov- 
ered in a state of perfect preservation. But the bulk of these 
formations is made up not so much of Fossil Remains, as 
of that into which Fossil Remains have been converted. 
Coal, for instance, is something more than Fossil wood ; 
Chalk, and Limestone, and Marble, are something more 
than Fossil shells and corals. 

Fossil Remains properly so called present a very much more 
lively picture of the ancient inhabitants of our Globe. But 
it is a picture that can but faintly be conveyed to the mind 
by the way of mere verbal description. He who would ap- 
preciate aright the reality and the significance of Fossil Re- 
mains must gather his impressions from actual observation. 
Let him go, for instance, to the British Museum, and walk 
slowly through the long suite of noble galleries which are 
there exclusively devoted to this branch of science. He 
will feel as if transported into another world, the reality of 
which he could scarcely have believed if he had not seen it 
with his own eyes. Before him, and behind him, and on each 
side of him, as he moves along, are spread out in long 
array forms of beasts, and birds, and fish, and amphibious 
animals, such as he has never seen before, nor dreamt of in 
his wildest dreams. Yet much as he may wonder at these 
strange figures, he never for a moment doubts that they 
were once indued with life, and moved over the surface of 
the earth, or disported in the waters of the deep. Nay 
more, though the forms are new to him, he will be at no 
loss, however inexperienced in Natural History, to find 
many analogies between the creation in the midst of which 
he stands, and the creation with which he has been hitherto 
familiar. There are quadrupeds, and bipeds, and reptiles. 
Some of the animals -were manifestly designed to walk on 



of the British Museit m. 169 

dry land, some to swim in the sea, and some to fly in the 
air. Some are armed with claws like the lion or the tiger, 
others have the paddles of a turtle, and others again have 
the fins of a fish. Here is an enormous beast that might 
almost pass for an elephant, though art experienced eye will 
not fail to detect an important difference ; and there is an 
amphibious monster that suggests the idea of a crocodile ; 
and again a little further on is an unsightly creature which 
unites the general characteristics of the diminutive sloth 
with the colossal proportions of the largest rhinoceros. 

If left to mere conjecture, the visitor would perhaps 
suppose that these uncouth monsters had been brought to- 
gether by some adventurous traveller from the remote regions 
of the world. But no : he will find on inquiry that the 
vast majority belong to species which for centuries have 
not been known to flourish on the Earth ; and that many 
of the strangest forms before him have been dug up almost 
from beneath the very soil on which he stands, — from the 
quarries of Surrey, of Sussex, and of Kent, and from the 
deep cuttings on the many lines of railway that diverge from 
the great metropolis of London, The life they represent 
so vididly is, indeed, widely different from that which flour- 
ishes around us ; but it is the life not so much of a far 
distant country as of a far distant age. 

It must not be supposed, however, that such skeletons as 
those which first arrest the eye in the galleries of the British 
Museum — so colossal in their proportions and so com- 
plete in all their details — fairly exhibit the general charac- 
ter of Fossil Remains. Perfect skeletons of gigantic ani- 
mals are rarely to be found. They are the exception and 
not the general rule, — the magnificent reward of long and 
toilsome exploration, or, it may be, the chance discover}^ 
that brings wealth to the humble home of some rustic 
laborer. Very different are the common every day discov- 
eries of the working Geologist. Disjointed bones and 

8 



1 7o A Visit to the Organic Remains 

skulls, scattered teeth, fragments of shells, the eggs of birds, 
the impressions of leaves, — these are the ordinary relics that 
Nature has stored up for our instruction in the various 
strata of the Earth's Crust : and these likewise constitute 
by far the greater part of the treasures which are gathered 
together in our Geological Museums. 

We will suppose, then, that the visitor has gratified his 
sense of wonder in gazing at the larger and more striking 
forms, few in number, that rise up prominently before him, 
and seem to stare at him in return from their hollow sockets : 
he must next turn his attention to the cases that stand 
against the walls, and to the cabinets that stretch along the 
galleries in distant perspective. Let him survey that mul- 
titude of bones of every shape and size, and those countless 
legions of shells, and then try to realize to his mind what a 
profusion and variety of animal life are here represented. 
And yet he must remember that this is but a single collec- 
tion. There are thousands of others, public and private, 
scattered over England, France, Germany, Italy, and be- 
yond the Atlantic, on the continent of America, and even 
in Australia ; all of which have been furnished from a few 
isolated spots, — ^scarcely more than specks on the surface 
of the Globe, — where the interior of the Earth's Crust has 
chanced to be laid open to the explorations of the Geologist. 

Lastly, before he leaves this splendid gallery, let him take 
a passing glance at the Organic Remains of the vegetable 
world. There is no mistaking the forms here presented to 
his view. He will recognize at once the massive and lofty 
trunks of forest trees with their spreading branches; the 
tender foliage of the lesser plants ; and, in particular, the 
graceful fern, which cannot fail to attract his eye by its 
unrivalled luxuriance. But if the forms are familiar, how 
strange is the substance, of this ancient vegetation ! The 
forest tree has been turned into sandstone ; many of 
the plants are of the hardest flint ; and the rich green of 



of the British Museum. 1 7 1 

the fern has given place to the jet black color of coal. let 
him lake a magnifying glass and scrutinize the internal 
structure of these mineralized remains ; for the more closely 
they are examined the more wonderful do they appear. 




Fig, 13. — Fossil Wood, from the Carboniferous Limestone of Mayo, 
showing the rings of Annual Growth. 

He can observe without difficulty their minute cells and 
fibres, the exact counterpart of those which may be seen 
in the plants that are now growing upon the earth ; he may 
detect the little seed-vessels on the under surface of the 
coaly fern ; nay, if he gets a polished transverse section of 
the sandstone tree, he may count the rings that mark its 
annual growth, and tell the age it attained in its primeval 
forest. 




CHAPTER XL 



FOSSIL REMAINS THE EXPLORATION. 



From the museinn to the qiiarry — Fossil fish in the limestone 
rocks of Monte Bolca — hi the quarries of Aix — In the 
chalk of Stissex — The ichthyosaurus or fish-like lizard — 
Gigantic dimensions of this ancient monster — Its predato7y 
habits — The plesiosaurus — The megatheriiun or great wild 
l)east — History of its discovery — The mylodon — Profusion of 
fossil shells — Petrified trees erect in the limestone rock of 
Portland^Fossil plants of the coal measures — The sigillaria 
— The fern — The catamite — The lepidodend)\ -. — Coal mine 
of Treuil — Fossil remains afford uiideniable evidence of 
former a^iimal and vegetable life — Their existence camtot be 
accounted for by the plastic power of nature — Nor can it 
reasonaJ)ly be ascribed to a special act of creation. 

UROM the galleries of the Museum we must now 
descend into the subterranean recesses of the 
mine and the quarry. For it is not enough to be 




familiar with the appearance of Fossil Remains, as they 
are laid out for show by human hands : we must see them 
also as they lie embedded in the successive strata of the 
Earth's Crust, which -are the shelves of Nature's cabinet. 
We shall begin with the celebrated quarries of Monte 
Bolca, in Northern Italy, not far from Verona. Here, in 
the hard limestone rock, fifty miles from the nearest sea, 
entire skeletons of many different species of fish are found 



Fossil Fish of Monte Bolca. 



173 



embedded in profuse abundance, and in a wonderful state 
of preservation. They lie parallel to the layers of the 




Fig. 14. — Platax Papilio. 
From the limestone of Monte Boka. 



rock ; and, though flattened by pressure, still retain their 
scales, bones, fins, nay, even their muscular tissue, undis- 



1 74 Fossil Fish of Monte Bolca. 

turbed and unharmed. Their color is a deep brown, 
which forms a remarkable contrast with the creamy hue of 
the limestone in which they are enveloped. The quarries 




Fig. 15. — Semiophorus Velicans. 
From the limestone cf Monte Bolca. 

have been worked only by students 'of Natural History for 
the sake of Organic remains, and are, therefore, of very 
limited extent ; yet so abundant are these fossil treasures 
that upward of a hundred different species have been dis- 
covered, and thousands of specimens have been dispersed 



Fossil Fish in Monte Bolca, 175 

over the cabinets of Europe. So closely are they some- 
times packed together that many individuals are contained 
in a single block. 

From these facts Geologists have been led to conclude : — 
that the strata in question were deposited on the bed of an 
ancient sea in which these fishes swam ; that the waters 
of the sea were suddenly rendered noxious, probably by the 
eruption of volcanic matter ; that the fishes in consequence 
perished in large numbers, and were then almost immedi- 
ately embedded in the calcareous deposits of which the 
strata are composed. These views receive no small con- 
firmation from a very remarkable phenomenon to which we 
may be allowed, in passing, to call attention. In the year 
183 1 a volcanic island was suddenly thrown up in the Medi- 
terranean between Sicily and the African coast ; and the 
waters of the sea were at the same time observed to be 
charged with a red mud over a very wide area, while hun- 
dreds of dead fish were seen floating on the surface. Is it 
not pretty plain that when the mud subsided many of the 
fish were enveloped in the deposit, and thus preserved to 
future times.? If so, then, we should have an exact mod- 
ern parallel to the fossil fishes of Monte Bolca. But for 
the present it is our purpose rather to describe facts than to 
develop theories.* 

Near the town of Aix, the ancient captial of Provence, in 
the south of France, is a group of strata, consisting chiefly 
of Conglomerate, Marl, Gypsum, and Limestone, which 
has earned for itself no small fame in the annals of Geol- 
ogy. Besides many curious relics of an extinct vegetation, 
these strata yield also an abundance of Fossil Insects, which 
emerge from the rocky bed in which they have slept for 
ages, with a surprising freshness and a life-like reality. But 
the quarrries of Aix, like those of Monte Bolca, are chiefly 

* Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i., p. 123 ; Mantell, Wonders of 
Geology, p. 269 ; Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 687. 



176 Fish in the Limestone Rock of Aix, 

famous for their Fossil Fish. And in this case, too, as in 
the former, it would seem as if vast multitudes had sud- 
denly perished together from some mysterious cause, and 
were then as suddenly entombed. They exhibit no mark 
of mechanical violence : and yet they are found, not unfre- 
quently, crowded together as closely as they can fit, in every 
variety of position, on the same slab of limestone. A good 
example of such a block is represented in our woodcut. 




Fig. 16. — Fossil Fish from Aix 



The White Chalk Rock of Sussex has been rendered clas- 
sical to the students of Geology by the skilful and laborious 
researches of the late Doctor Mantell. Previous to his time 
the Fish of the Chalk were known only by their teeth and 
bones, which abounded in every quarry. But he succeeded 
in bringing to light many whole skeletons, and disengaging 
them without injury from their chalky envelopment. In 
many cases these Fossil Fish appear to have suffered little 
from compression : the body still retains its rounded form ; 
and even the most delicate scales and fins are as little dis- 
turbed or distorted as "if the original, had been surrounded 



Fish in the Chalk of Sussex. 1 7 7 

by soft Plaster of Paris while floating in the water. For 
many years Doctor Mantell devoted himself, with indefat- 
igable zeal, to the gathering of these interesting remains ; 
and his magnificent collection now adorns the Galleries of 
the British Museum. In the annexed illustration is figured 
a specimen belonging to one of the most abundant species. 
It is closely allied to the common perch ; and is popularly 
called Johnny Dory by the quarrymen of Sussex, but is 
entitled Beryx I.cwesiensis by the learned.* 




Fig. 17. — Beryx Lewesiensis, from the Chalk, near Lewes. 

From Fossil Fish we now turn to Fossil Reptiles. Many 
of bur readers have, perhaps, heard or read something 
about an important group of rocks known by the name of 
the Lias. This formation is well developed in England, 
and has received much attention from Geologists. It 
stretches in a belt of varying width from Whitby on the 
coast of Yorkshire to Lyme Regis on the coast of Dorset- 
shire ; passing in its course through the counties of Leices- 
ter, Warwick, Gloucester, and Somerset. It is composed 
chiefly of Limestone, Marl, andClay ; and is celebrated for 

* Mantell, Wonders of Geology, Lecture iv., Fossils of the British Mu- 
seum, chapter v. j see, also, Medals of Creation, and Fossils of the South 
Downs, by the same Author. 

8* 



178 The Ichthyosaurus. 

the number and size of its great Fossil Reptiles. Of these 
the most remarkable is the Ichthyosaurus or Fish-like 
Lizard. 

This monster of the ancient seas combined, as its name 
denotes, the essential characters of a reptile with the form 
and habits of a fish. No such creature has been known to 
exist within historic times ; nevertheless, all the various 
parts of its complicated structure have their analogies, more 
or less perfect, in the present creation. It had the head of 
a Lizard, the beak of a Porpoise, the teeth of a Crocodile, the 
back bone of a Fish, and the paddles of a Whale. In length 
it sometimes exceeded thirty feet ; it had a short thick neck, 
an enormous stomach, a long and powerful tail. This last 
appendage, together with four great paddles or fins, consti- 
tuted the chief organs of motion. But of all its parts the head 
was perhaps the most wonderful and characteristic. In the 
larger species the jaws were six feet long, and were armed with 
two rows of conical sharp-pointed teeth, — a hundred below, 
a hundred and ten above. The cavities in which the eyes 
were set measured often fourteen inches across, and the 
eyeballs themselves must have been larger than a man's 
head. 

Now what we want particularly to impress upon our 
readers is, that the remains of this singular aquatic reptile 
abound throughout the whole extent of the Lias Formation 
in England. Far down below the surface of the earth 
they are found embedded in the marls, and clays, and 
limestones of Dorsetshire, and Gloucester, and War- 
wick, and Leicester, and Yorkshire. Sometimes whole 
skeletons are found entire, with scarcely a single bone re- 
moved from the place it occupied during life; but more 
frequently the scattered fragments are found lying about in 
a state of confused disorder ; skulls, and jaw-bones, and 
teeth, and paddles, and the joints of the vertebral column and 
of the tail. The neighborho9d of Lyme Regis is a perfect 



1 80 The Ichthyoscm7''iiS\ 

cabinet of these curious treasures. In some of the speci- 
mens there exhumed, a singular circumstance has been 
observed, which is deserving of special notice. We should 
naturally have expected, from the prodigious power of this 
animal, from the expansion of his jaws and the immense 
size of his stomach, that he preyed upon the other fish and 
reptiles that had the misfortune to inhabit the waters in 
which he lived. And so indeed it was. For here enclosed 
within his vast ribs, in the place that once was his stomach, 
are still preserved the remains of his half-digested food ; 
and amidst the debris we can distinguish the bones and 
scales of his victims. Nay, in some of the more colossal 
specimens of this ancient monster, we can distinctly recog- 
nize the remains of his own smaller brethren ; which, 
though less frequent than the bones of fishes, are still suf- 
ficiently numerous to prove that, when he wanted to appease 
his hunger, he did not even spare the less powerful mem- 
bers of his own species.* 

It is with facts like these, which are revealed by the Crust 
of the Earth all over the world, that Geologists are called 
upon to deal. When they meet with skeletons and bones 
such as we have been describing, buried deep in the hard 
rock, hundreds of feet beneath the green grass, and the 
waving corn, they cannot help but ask the question : 
Where did these creatures come from .? When did they 
live } And by what revolutions were they embedded here, 
and lifted up from beneath the waters of the deep.? 

In the same formation are found the remains of another 
ancient reptile, called the Plesiosaurus, that is to say, 
nearly allied to the Lizard. Of this extraordinary monster 
Cuvier observed that its structure was the most singular 
and anomalous that, up to his time, had been discovered' 

* Owen's Pal;«ontology, pp. 200—9 ; Buckland, BridgewaterTreastise, vol. 
i., pp. 168-1865 Mantell, Wonders of Geology, pp. 576-581 5 Lyell, Ele- 
ments of Geology, pp. 420-4255 Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 598-509, 



The Plesiosdttrus. 1 8 1 

amid the ruins of the ancient world. It is chiefly distin- 
guished from the Ichthyosaurus, to which it has no small 
affinity, by the enormous length of its neck, which, in some 
species, resembles the body of a serpent. Dr. Buckland 
tells us that in the Plesiosaurus Dolichodeirus the neck is 
longer than the trunk ; the one being five times, the other 
only four times, as long as the head. Our illustration, for 
which we are indebted to the kindness of Doctor Haughton, 
represents a fine specimen of Plesiosaurus Cramptonii, 
which was found in the Lias Beds of Kettleness. near 
Whitby, in Yorkshire, and which is now a prominent ob- 
ject in the Museum of the RoyalDublin Society. 

The habits and character of the Plesiosaurus have been 
thus sketched out by Mr. Conybeare : — "That it was aquatic 
is evident, from the form of its paddles ; that it was marine 
is almost equally so, from the remains with which it is uni- 
versally associated ; that it may have occasionally visited 
the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those of the 
turde may lead us to conjecture. Its motion, however, 
must have been very awkward on land ; its long neck must 
have impeded its progress through the water ; presendng a 
striking contrast to the organization which so admirably 
fits. the Ichthyosaurus to cut through the waves. May it not 
therefore be concluded (since, in addidon to these circum- 
stances, its respiration must have required frequent access 
of air), that it swam upon or near the surface ; arching back 
its long neck like the swan, and occasionally dardng it 
down at the fish which happened to float within its reach. 
It may perhaps have lurked in shoal water along the coast 
concealed among the sea-weed, and raising its nostrils to a 
level with the surface from a cojisiderable depth, may have 
found a secure reireat from the assaults of dangerous ene- 
mies ; while the length and flexibility of its neck may have 
compensated for the want of strength in its jaws, and its 
incapacity for swift motion through the water, by the sud- 



Pampas of South America. 183 

denness and agility of the attack which they enabled it to 
make on every animal fitted for its prey, which came 
within its reach."* 

The Pampas of South America are not less famous in 
Geology for the remains of Gigantic quadrupeds, than the 
Lias of England for its colossal marine reptiles. These 
vast undulating plains, which present to the eye for nine 
hundred miles a waving sea of grass, consist chiefly of strat- 
ified beds of gravel and reddish mud ; and it is in these beds 
that the remains of many unshapely but powerful terrestrial 
animals have been found embedded. So abundant are 
they, that it is said a line drawn in any direction through 
the country would cut through some skeleton or bones. 
Indeed, Mr. Darwin is of opinion that the whole area of the 
Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct animals. 
It will be enough for our purpose to describe one in par- 
ticular, which, from its prodigious bulk, has received the 
appropriate name of Megatherium, or the Great Wild Beast. 

The Megatherium, like the Ichthyosaurus and the Piesio- 
saurus, had many affinities with the existing creation. In its 
head and shoulders it resembled the sloth which still 
browses on the green foliage of the trees in the dense forests 
of South America ; while in its legs and feet it combined 
the characteristics of the Ant-Eater and the Armadillo. But 
it was eminently distinguished from these and all the other 
modern representatives of the family to which it belonged 
by its colossal proportions. It was often twelve feet long 
and eight feet high ; its fore-feet were a yard in length and 
twelve inches in breadth, terminating in gigantic claws ; its 
haunches were five feet wide, and its thigh bone was three 
times as big as that of the largest elephant. "His entire 
frame," as Dr. Buckland has admirably observed and care- 
fully demonstrated, "was an apparatus of colossal mechan- 

* Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i., pp. 202-145 Owen's Palaeon- 
tology, 223-232. 



1 84 MegatheriMm or Great Wild Beast. 

ism, adapted exactly to the work it had to do ; strong and 
ponderous, in proportion as this work was heavy, and cal- 
culated to be the vehicle of life and enjoyment to a gigantic 
race of quadrupeds, which, though they have ceased to be 
counted among the hving inhabitants of our planet, have, 
in their fossil bones, left behind them imperishable monu- 
ments of the consummate skill with which they were con- 
structed, — each limb, and fragment of a limb, forming 
co-ordinate parts of a well adjusted and perfect whole ; 
and through all their deviations from the form and propor- 
tions of the limbs of other quadrupeds, affording fresh 
proofs of the infinitely varied and inexhaustible contrivances 
of Creative Wisdom. " 

This Leviathan of the Pampas, as it has been justly called, 
became first known in Europe toward the close of the last 
century. In the year 1789 a skeleton was dug up, almost 
entire, about three miles southwest of Buenos Ayres, and 
was presented by the Marquis of Loreto to the Royal 
Museum at Madrid, where it still remains. Since that time 
other specimens, besides numerous fragments, have been 
discovered, chiefly through the zeal and energy of Sir 
Woodbine Parish ; by the aid of which the form, structure, 
and consequendy the habits of this clumsy and ponderous 
animal have been fully ascertained. The coniplete skele- 
ton which forms so prominent an object of attraction in the 
British Museum, and which is represented in the wood- 
cut on the adjoining page, is only a model ; but it has 
been constructed with great care from the original bones, 
some of which are to be found in the wall-cases of the 
same room, and others in the Plunterian Museum of the 
Royal College of Surgeons."* 

* Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i., pp. 139-164; Owen's Pa- 
leontology, pp. 390-2; Mantell, Wonders of Geology, pp. 166-9; Fos- 
sils of the British Museum, pp. 465-480; The English Cyclopaedia. 
Natural Historj; Division, Article, Megatheridic. 






n' -t 

- 3 




i86 



The Mylodo7i. 



Closely allied to the Megatherium, but somewhat less 
colossal in its dimensions, is the Mylodon. Its remains 
are found associated with those of the Megatherium and 
other great animals of the same family, in the superficial 
gravels of South America. A splendid specimen, which 




Fig. 22. — Mylodon Robustus, from Buenos Ayres. 

measures eleven feet from the fore part of the skull to the 
end of the tail, was dug up, in the year 1841, a few miles 
north of Buenos Ayres. It is well figured in the adjoin- 
ing woodcut, which we reproduce, by kind permission of 
the Author, from Dr. Haughton's admirable Manual of 
Geology. 

Passing from the petrified fi,sh, and the reptiles, and the 



Fossil Shells, 187 

quadrupeds, that thus come forth, as it were, from their 
graves to bring us tidings of an extinct creation, we must 
next turn our attention for a moment to Fossil Shells. 
These relics of the ancient world, which are scattered with 
profuse abundance through all the strata of the Earth's 
Crust, may seem, indeed, of litde value to the careless 
observer ; but to the practised eye of science they are full 
of instruction. They have been aptly called the Medals of 
Creation ; for, stamped upon their surface they bear the 
impress of the age to which they belong ; and they consti- 
tute the largest, we may say, perhaps, the most valuable 
part of those unwritten records from which the Geologist 
seeks to gather the ancient history of our Globe. 

As regards the prodigious abundance of Fossil Shells 
preserved in the Crust of the Earth, it is unnecessary for us 
here to speak. We have already seen that the great mass 
of many limestone formations is composed almost exclu- 
siv-ely of such remains, broken up into minute fragments, 
and more or less altered by chemical agency ; and besides, 
there are quarries within the reach of all, where they may 
collect at pleasure these interesting relics of the olden time. 
But there are one or two facts of peculiar significance con- 
nected with Fossil Shells, which it may be useful briefly 
to set down. In the first place, we would remind our 
readers that there is a marked and well-known difference 
between the shells of those animals that can live only in 
the sea, of those that inhabit rivers, and of those, finally, 
that frequent the brackish waters of estuaries. Now it has 
been made clear beyond all reasonable doubt, by the explor- 
ations of Geologists, that sea-shells abound in great num- 
bers far away from the present line of coast, in the heart 
of vast continents. And they are found, not merely on 
the surface, but buried deep in the Crust of the Earth, and 
overlaid, in many cases, by numerous strata of solid rock, 
thousands of feet in thickness. It is also to be observed 



1 88 Marine Shells on lofty Mountains, 

that they occur at all heights above the level of the ocean ; 
having been discovered at an elevation of eight thousand 
feet in the Pyrenees, ten thousand in the Alps, thirteen 
thousand in the Andes, and above eighteen thousand in the 
Himalaya.* Such are the phenomena which are constantly 
forcing themselves on the attention of the Geologist, and 
which involve a number of problems that he cannot help 
attempting to investigate and explain. He is instinctively 
impelled to ask himself, how can the shells of marine 
animals have come to exist so far away from the sea.? how 
have they been buried in the Crust of the Earth } how have 
they been lifted up to the highest pinnacles of lofty moun- 
tains .? 

Our subterranean exploration would be incomplete if it 
did not illustrate the Vegetable as well as the Animal Life 
of the ancient world. Let the reader then descend in fancy 
into the celebrated quarries "of Portland on the south coast 
of England, and he will see the fossilized remains of a long 
past vegetation exhibited in a very striking manner. Tn one 
of these quarries a vertical section, extending from the sur- 
face downward to the depth of about thirty feel, presents 
the following succession of strata arranged in horizontal 
layers : — first, a light covering of vegetable soil, beneath 
which are thin beds of cream-colored limestone, forming a 
stratum of solid rock ten feet thick ; then a bed of dark- 
brown loam, mixed with rounded fragments of stone, and 
varying in thickness from twelve to eighteen inches. This 
is known to the quarrymen by the name of Dirt-bed, and 
seems, in former ages, to have supported a luxuriant vege- 
tation ; for all around are scattered the petrified fragments 
of an ancient forest. ,The prostrate stems and shattered 
branches of great trees are met at every step ; but what is- 
most striking and peculiar is, that, in many cases, the pet- 
rified stumps are still standing erect, with their roots fixed 

* Lyell, •Elements of Geology, p. 4. 



Petrified Forest of Portland. 



189 



in the thin stratum of loam, and their trunks stretching 
upward into the hard Hmestone rock. Immediately below 
the Dirt-bed is another thick stratum of limestone, and 
below this again is a stratum of the famous Portland stone, 




Vegetable soil. 

Fresh-water 
stone. 



Lime- 



Clay. 

Laminated fresh- 

water Limestone. 

Dirt-bed with fossil 
trees and plants. 



Fresh-water 
stone. 



Bed of Clay. 



Lime 



_ri' ^~:==^:l=:^- ^~"-ri Portland building- 

^-,_ JI:"r^"r^^^\;<rS^;,-__i^^^ stone full of ma- 



ihells. 



Fi-g. 23. — Section of a Quarry in the Island of Portland. Total 
thickness about thirty feet. 

so highly prized for building purposes. As the quarries of 
Pordand are worked chiefly for the sake of this building 
stone, little attention is paid to the Dirt-bed and its con- 
tents, which are commonly thrown aside by the quarrymen 
as rubbish. 

The scene of this petrified forest is thus described by 
Doctor Mantell : — "On one of my visits to the island the 
surface of a large area of the Dirt-bed was cleared prepara- 
tory to its removal, and the appearance presented was most 
striking. The floor of the quarry was literally strewn with 



1 90 Vegetable Remains of the Coal. 

fossil wood, and before me was a petrified forest, the trees 
and plants, like the inhabitants of the city in Arabian story, 
being converted into stone, yet still remaining in the places 
which they occupied when alive ! Some of the trunks were 
surrounded by a conical mound of calcareous earth, which 
had, evidently, when in the state of mud, accumulated 
round the roots. The upright trunks were generally a few 
feet apart, and but three or four feet high ; their summits 
were broken and splintered, as if they had been snapped or 
wrenched off by a hurricane at a short distance from the 
ground. Some were two feet in diameter, and the united 
fragments of one of the prostrate trunks indicated a total 
length of from thirty to forty feet ; in many specimens por- 
tions of the branches remained attached to the stem."* 

The Coal Measures of Europe and America offer to the 
student of Geology a boundless field for the investigation of 
Fossil Plants and Trees. We have already had occasion to 
notice the Sigillaria. This ancient tree, remarkable for its 
beautiful sculptured stem, has no exact representative in 
the vegetable kingdom of the present day. But it abounds 
everywhere in the Coal Measures ; and there seems little 
doubt that several great seams of Coal are composed almost 
entirely of its. carbonized remains. Indeed the ancient soil, 
which commonly constitutes the floor on which the bed of 
Coal reposes, is often as thickly crowded with the branch- 
ing roots of the Sigillaria, as the soil of a dense forest with 
the roots of the trees by which it is covered. The stem 
itself, when converted into Coal, generally assumes the 
form of long narrow slabs ; having been flattened by pres- 
sure during the process of mineralization. Sometimes 
however, it is found uncompressed and erect. In this case 
the interior of the trunk' is usually observed to have been 
filled up with sand or clay : and thus the forest tree, still 
retaining its external shape and character, is transformed 

* Wonders of Geology, p. 4oo. 



TJic Fer7i and the Calamite. 191 

into a cylindrical shell of carbonized bark without, and a 
solid cylinder of sandstone or shale within. An interesting 
example is exhibited in our illustration, Figure 1 1. 

Every Coal mine, too, is adorned with the imprint of the 
graceful Fern, which constitutes one of the most attractive 
features in the Flora of the ancient world. Not unfre- 




Fig.- 24. — Calamites Nodos-is 
From the Coal Measures of Newcastle. 

quently it assumes a tree-like character, as it often does 'jven 
now in tropical countries ; and then, indeed, it is an object 
of striking beauty, reaching to a height of forty or fifty feet, 
and expanding at the summit into an elegant canopy of 
foliage. 

The Calamite is another plant in which the Coal abounds. 
Its true botanical character is not yet clearly ascertained ; 
but it bears a general resemblance, except for its gigantic 



192 Forest Tree erect in a Coal Mine. 

dimensions, to the common Horse-tail of our swamps and 
marshy grounds. It is a reed-Hke, jointed stem, sometimes 
thirty feet in length, hollow within, and curiously jointed 
without 



Vig^ 25. — Lepldodendron Sternbergii ; a Fossil Tree, 39 feet high. 
From a Coal Mine near Newcastle. 

Scarcely less conspicuous than the Sigillaria, the Fern, 
and the Calamite, is the J.epidodendron or Scaly Tree, one 
of the most curious and'interesting among the plants of the 
Coal-bearing period. Like the Sigillaria and the Calamite, 
it has been, and still is, a puzzle to the student of Botany. 
But it needs not the eye of science to see that it is unmis- 



I 



Lepidodendron. 



193 



takably a stately forest tree, shut up in the Crust of the 
Earth, encased in a soHd framework of indurated Shale, 
or Sandstone, or Coal, as the case may be, and overlaid 
with massive strata of rock hundreds of feet in thickness. 




Fig.26 Lepidodendron Elegans. 
Portion of Stem and branches ; Coal Mine, Newcastle, 

Such a specimen as that represented in our woodcat was 
laid bare some years ago in Yarrow Collier)', near New- 
castle. 

In the same neighborhood was found a portion of the 
stem and branches of another variety, Lepidodendron Ele- 
gans, which will enable the reader to form a more complete 
idea of the appearance presented by this ancient tree as it 
stood in its primeval forest. 

An unusually favorable illustration of our present subject 
may be seen at the colliery of Treuil, in France, not far 
■from the city of Lyons. The beds of Coal are overlaid by 

9 



194 Ancient Rarest enveloped in Sandstone, 



a kind of slaty sandstone, ten feet thick ; and this sand- 
stone is traversed by the vertical stems of enormous petrified 
plants, chiefly Calamites. Here, then, to all appearance, 
we have an ancient forest enveloped in sandstone. We 
must suppose that the forest was submerged while the trees 
were still erect; that in this condition it received the sedi- 
mentary deposits carried down by the current of some great 




Y'\%. 27. — Section of a Coal sandstone at Treuil, near Lyons. 
Showing the erect position of Fossil Trees, (Alex. Brongniart.) 

river ; and finally, that these deposits were, in the course 
of ages, compacted into sandstone by a process already ex- 
plained. It would seem that after the sandstone had been 
partially, at least, consolidated, it was subjected to a sliding 
movement here and there, by which the continuity of the 
stems was broken; the upper part being pushed on one 
side, as shown in our Figure. 

It is time we should bring to a close our survey, meagre 
and imperfect as it is., of Fossil Remains. Those who 



''Plastic Power of Nature H' 195 

desire to pursue the inquiry for themselves will easily find 
an opportunity of doing so. There are few, we should 
suppose, who may not, occasionally, have access to one 
or other of those splendid Museums of Geology, which 
have been set up in all the great towns of Europe. And 
the still more extensive cabinets of Nature's Museum, 
spread out beneath our feet, are within the reach of all. 

But even the scanty facts which have been set forth faith- 
fully, we trust, though perhaps feebly, in these pages, are 
sufficient to satisfy all reasonable minds that the bones, the 
skeletons, the trunks and branches of trees, which have 
been exhumed from the Stratified Rocks are really the 
remains of Organic Life that once flourished on. the earth, 
or in the waters of the ancient seas. Obvious, however, as 
this fact must appear to all who have fully realized the char- 
acter and appearance of Fossil Remains, it has been often 
vigorously assailed and vehemenlty denounced. In the early 
days of Geology phenomena of this kind were ascribed, not 
uncommonly, to the *' plastic power of Nature," or to the in- 
fluence of the stars. Such notions, however, meet with little 
support among modern writers. They were nothing more 
than wild fancies, without any foundation either in the evi- 
dence of facts or in the analogy of Nature. The ''plastic 
power of Nature" was a phrase that sounded well, perhaps, 
in the ears of unreflecting people ; but no one ever under- 
took to show that Nature really possesses that "plastic 
power" Avhich was so readily imputed to her. No one ever 
undertook to show that it is the way of Nature to make the 
stems, and branches, and leaves of trees, without the pre- 
vious process of vegetation ; or to make bones and skele- 
tons which have never been invested with- the ordinary 
appendages of flesh and blood. Yet surely this is a theory 
that requires proof ; for all our experience of the laws of 
Nature points directly to the opposite conclusion. And as 
for the influence of the stars, we may be content to adopt 



196 Fossil Remains not created 

the language of the celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci : 
— "They tell us that these shells were formed in the hills 
by the influence of the stars ; but I ask where in the hills 
are the stars now forming shells of distinct ages and spe- 
cies ? and how can the stars explain the origin of gravel 
occurring at different heights and composed of pebbles 
rounded as if by the action of running water ? or in what 
manner can such a cause account for the petrifaction in the 
same places of various leaves, sea-weeds, and marine crabs?"* 

In modern times the form of objection has been some- 
what changed. We are told by some writers that, when 
we seek to explain the existence of Fossil Remains by the 
action of natural laws, we seem to forget the Omnipotence 
of God. They urge upon us, with much solemnity, that 
He could have made bones, and shells, and skeletons, and 
petrified wood, though there had been no living animal to 
which these bones belonged, and no living tree that had been 
changed into stone. And if He made them, might He not 
disperse them up and down through His creation, on the 
lofty mountains, in the hidden valleys, and in the profound 
depths of the sea? and buried them in limestone rocks 
and in the soft clay? and arranged them in groups, or 
scattered them in wild confusion as He best pleased ? 

To this line of argument we must be content to reply, 
that we have no wish to limit the power of God. But we 
have learned from our daily experience that in the physical 
world He is pleased to employ the agency of secondary 
causes ; and when we know that for many ages a certain 
effect has been uniformly produced by a certain cause, and 
not otherwise, then if we again see the effect, we infer the 
cause. When a traveller in the untrodden wilds of West- 
ern America, comes upon a forest of great trees, or a herd 
of unknown animals, surely he never thinks of supposing 

* See Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., p. 31, who refers to Da 
Vinci's MSS. now in the Library of the Institute of France. 



in their present Condition, 197 

that the wild beasts and the forest trees came directly from 
the hand of the Creator, in that state of maturity in which 
he beholds them. And why ? for it might be argued that 
the power of God is unbounded, and he might have created 
them as they now are if He had so pleased. Is it not that 
the traveller is impelled, by an instinct of his nature, to 
interpret the works of God which he now sees for the first 
time, according to the analogy of those with which he has 
been long familiar ? Now this is just the principle for which 
we are contending. According to all our experience of 
the works of God in the physical world, the living body 
comes first, and the skeleton afterward ; the living tree 
comes first, and afterward the prostrate trunk and the splin- 
tered branches. Therefore when we meet with a skeleton, 
we conclude that it was once a living body ; and when we 
find the petrified stems, and branches, and leaves of trees, 
we have no doubt that they are the remains of an ancient 
vegetation. 

But, in truth, if any one, with all the facts of the case 
fully before his mind, were deliberately to adopt this theor}', 
that Fossils, as we find them now, were created by God in 
the Crust of the Earth, we candidly confess we have no 
argument that we should think likely to shake his con- 
viction ; just as we should be utterly at a loss if he were to 
say that the Pyramids of Egypt, or the colossal sculptures 
of Nineveh, or the ruins of Baalbec, were created by God 
from the beginning. The evidence of human workman- 
ship is certainly not more clear in the one case than is the 
evidence of animal and vegetable life in the other. We 
believe, however, that no such persons are to be found ; that 
theories of this kind have their origin, not so much in false 
reasoning, as in imperfect knowledge of facts ; and we have, 
therefore, judged it most expedient not to spend our time 
in a discussion of philosophical axioms, but to set forth the 
facts, and leave them to speak for themselves. 



CHAPTER XII. 

GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY PRINCIPLES OF THE SYSTEM EX- 
PLAINED AND DEVELOPED. 

Significance of fossil remains — Science of Palcsontology — 
Classification of existing animal life — Fossil remains a7'C 
found to fit in with this classification — Succession of organic 
life — Time in Geology not measjired by years and centuries 
— Successive periods marked by successive forms of life — 
The Geologist aims at arrangitig these periods in chrono- 
logical order — Position of the various groups of strata ?iot 
sufficient for this purpose — // is accomplished chiefiy through 
the aid of fossil remains — Mode of proceeding practically 
explained — Chronological table. 

HE existence of Fossil Remains is, then, a fact. 
Go where you will through the civilized world, 
and every chief town has its Museum, into which 
they have been gathered by the zeal and industry of man; 
descend where you can into the Crust of the Earth, — the 
quarry, the mine, the railway cutting, — and there, notwith- 
standing the plunder which has been going on for two 
centuries or more, you will find that the inexhaustible 
cabinets of Nature are still teeming with these remains 
of ancient life. 

When we are brought, for the first time, face to face with 
these countless relics of a former world, we are impressed 
with a sense of wonder and bewilderment. That the skel- 
etons before us, though now dry and withered, were once 
animated with the breath of life ; that the trees now lying 
shattered and prostrate, and shorn of their branches, once 




Significance of Fossil Remains. 199 

flourished on the earth, we cannot for a moment hesitate 
to believe. But beyond this one fact, all is darkness and 
mystery. These gaunt skeletons, these uncouth monsters, 
these petrified forests, are silent, lifeless, as the rocks within 
whose stony bosoms they have lain so long entombed. 
Had they speech and memory, they could tell us much, 
no doubt, of that ancient world in which they bore a part, 
of its continents, and seas, and rivers, and mountains ; of 
the various tribes of animals and plants by which it was 
peopled ; of their habits and domestic economy ; how they 
lived, how they died, and how they were buried in those 
graves from which, after the lapse of we know not how 
many ages, they now come forth into the light of day. As 
it is, however, we can but gaze and wonder. We have 
nothing here but the relics of death and destruction : there 
is no feeling, no memory, no voice, in these dry bones ; no 
living tenant in these hollow skulls, to recount to us the 
history of former times. 

So thinks and reasons the ordinar)' observer. But far 
different is the language of the Geologist. These dry and 
withered bones, he tells us, are gifted with memory and 
speech ; and, though the language they speak may seem 
at first unfamiliar and obscure, it is not, on that account, 
beyond our comprehension. Like the birds, reptiles, fish, 
and other symbols, inscribed on the obelisks of ancient 
Egypt, these bones and shells stored up in the Crust of the 
Earthj have a hidden meaning which it is the business of 
Science to search out and explain. They are Nature's 
hieroglyphics, which she has impressed upon her works to 
carry down to remote ages the memory of the revolutions 
through which our Globe has passed; and when we come 
to understand them aright, they do unfold to us the story 
of that ancient world to which they belonged. 

The interpretation of Fossil Remains is, then, an impor- 
tant department of Geology. Of late years it has been 



200 PalcBontology, 

admitted to the rank of a special science, under the name 
of Palaeontology, ^vhich means, as the word denotes — ■ 
itakaiuiv Qvruv Xo'^oc; — -the science which is concerned about 
the organic remains of ancient life. The honor of having 
been the first to place this science on a solid basis, in fact 
we may say the honor of having brought it into existence, is 
justly accorded to the distinguished Cuvier, whose name 
shed a lustre upon France during the early years of the 
present century. It is therefore still in its infancy ; but it 
has already rewarded the zeal of its students by many won- 
derful and unexpected revelations. We purpose in the 
first place to examine the principles on which it is founded, 
and then to take a rapid glance at the conclusions to which 
it has led. 

At the outset it is worthy of notice that the very existence 
of Fossil Remains, buried deep in the Grust of the Earth, 
forcibly confirms the Geological theory of Stratified Rocks. 
These rocks, as the reader will remember, are said to have 
been slowly spread out, one above another, during the 
lapse of many ages, by the operation of natural causes ; and 
we have seen how this doctrine is supported by arguments 
founded on an examination of the rocks themselves, — of 
the materials that compose them, and of the way in which 
these materials are piled together. Now let us observe how 
clearly the testimony of Fossil Remains seems to point in 
the same direction. 

First, the bones and shells which we now find in such 
profusion, far down beneath the superficial covering of the 
Earth, must have belonged to animals which, when living, 
flourished on what was then the surface. Yet now they 
are buried in the bosom of the hard rock, and covered 
over with beds of solid limestone, arid sandstone, and con-, 
glomerate, hundreds and thousands of feet in thickness. 
How can we explain this fact, unless we suppose that these 
animals, when they perished, were embedded in some soft 



Fossil Rema ins and Stratified Rocks, 201 

materials, which afterward became consolidated, and above 
which, in the course of ages, more and more matter was 
deposited, until at length that lofty pile of strata was pro- 
duced, beneath which the remains are now found buried? 

Again, it is part of our theory that the formation of 
Stratified Rocks took place, for the most part, under water. 
The Organic Remains, therefore, which we should natu- 
rally expect to find preserved in the strata of the earth, 
would be those of aquatic animals ; or, if the remains of 
land animals were to be looked for, it should be of those 
chiefly which live near the banks of rivers and estuaries, 
and which, after death, might have been carried down by 
the current and buried in the silt and mud with which 
almost all rivers are charged at certain seasons of the year. 
We know as a fact that such animals are buried at the 
present day in the Deltas of the Ganges and the Missis- 
sippi ; and it would be reasonable to suppose that the same 
should have occurred in former ages. Now here again the 
evidence of Fossil Remains exactly fits in with our theory. 
For the vast bulk of them are manifestly the remains of 
animals that lived in water: and the terrestrial animals, 
comparatively few, whose bones are preserved in the Crust 
of the Earth, are such as frequent the banks of great rivers 
or the marshy swamps of estuaries. 

Thus much we may learn even from a cursory glance at 
Fossil Remains. But these curious monuments of ancient 
times have a deeper meaning, which cannot be unfolded 
without a more minute and laborious investigation. Our 
readers are aware that all the animals at present existing 
on the face of the Earth have been scientifically grouped 
together, according to certain well-marked characteristics, 
into various Kingdoms, Classes, Genera, and Species. 
Thus, for example, the horse and the dog are two different 
Species, belonging to the same Class of Mammalia ; the 
eagle and the sparrow are two different Species of the same 

9* 



2 o 2 Researches of CuvieVs 

Class called Birds. Then again the Class of Mammalia 
and the Class of Birds both belong to the one common 
Kingdom of Vertebrata ; because, though different in many- 
other respects, they agree in this, that all the members of 
both Classes have a vertebral or spinal column, to which 
the other parts of the internal skeleton are attached. 

Now when Cuvier began to examine closely the Organic 
Remains of former times, to which his attention was called 
by the bones dug up in the gypsum quarries of Montmartre, 
near Paris, about the close of the last century, he brought 
with him to the task a very large acquaintance with the 
various forms of life that, in the present age, prevail 
throughout the world. And he was greatly struck with 
the marked difference between those living animals with 
which he had been long familiar, and those with which 
he now became acquainted for the first time. The more 
he extended his researches, the more manifest did this dif- 
ference appear ; until at last it became quite clear that 
the great bulk of the animals whose remains are pre- 
served in the Crust of the Earth, have no representatives 
now living on its surface. Nevertheless, he observed that, 
though the Species no longer exists, it often happens that 
we have still other Species of the same Genus ; or if the 
Genus, too, be extinct, we have other Genera of the same 
Class. Here, then, is the first great truth at which Cuvier 
arrived, and which has been since confirmed by extensive 
observations : — that the animals which formerly dwelt on 
this Earth of ours, were, for the most part, widely different 
from those by which it is now inhabited : and yet there is a 
well-defined likeness between them ; that both have been 
created on a plan so strictly uniform, that the One and the 
other naturally find their place in the same system of classi- 
fication. 

As the science of Palaeontology progressed, and new 
facts were day by day accumulated, another truth, not less 



Distribtition of Fossil Remains. 203 

important, was gradually but certainly developed. In the 
distribution of Fossil Remains through the various strata, 
of the Earth, there is a certain order observed, a certain 
regular law of succession, which cannot have been the' 
mere result of chance, and which it is the business of 
science to unravel and explain. The facts are these. If 
we follow a particular set of strata in a horizo7iial direction^ 
we find that the same fossils continue to prevail over hun- 
dreds of square miles, nay, often over a space as large as 
Europe, though beyond certain limits this uniformity of 
Fossil Remains will gradually be observed to disappear. 
But when we penetrate in a vertical direction through the 
strata, the forms of animal and vegetable life that we meet 
with are constantly changing. After a few hundred yards 
at the most, we find ourselves in the midst of a group of 
fossils, altogether different from those which we have passed 
in the beds above : and so on, as we proceed downward, 
each particular set of strata is found to have an assemblage of 
fossils peculiar to itself * 

There can be no reasonable doubt as to the truth of these 
facts. They have been established and confirmed by the 
positive testimony of a whole host of Geologists, whose 
researches have extended to all parts of the globe. And we 
have besides a kind of negative evidence on the subject 
which is scarcely less convincing than the positive. Nothing 
is more easy than to refute a universal proposition if it is 
false. If it is not a fact that each group of strata, as we pro- 
ceed downward, exhibits a collection of Fossils peculiar to 
itself, the assertion may be at once disproved by pointing 
out two or three different groups with the same Fossils. 
There are thousands of practical Geologists at work all over 
the world, eager for fame ; and any one of them would 
make his name illustrious if he could overturn a theory so 

* See Lyell, Elements of Geology, pp. 94-96; Principles of Geology, 
p. 116; Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 410, 411. 



204 Organic Life proved by Fossil Remains, 

generally received. Now, when a statement of facts can be 
easily disproved if untrue ; and when, at the same time, 
there is a large number of men whose interest it would be 
to disprove the statement if possible ; and when it is never- 
theless not disproved ; this circumstance, we contend, is a 
convincing argument that the alleged facts are true. And 
such precisely is the case before us. We therefore think it 
would be unreasonable not to accept the facts. 

Let us next examine what is their significance. Each 
group of strata, be it remembered, represents to us the 
animal life that flourished on the Earth during the period 
in which that particular group was in progress of forma- 
tion. It is, as it were, a cabinet in which are preserved for 
our instruction certain relics or memorials of that age in 
the world's history. Of course it is not a perfect collection ; 
but only a collection of those remains that chanced to 
escape destruction, and by some natural embalming pro- 
cess to be saved from dissolution. When we learn, then, 
that there is a marked uniformity in the assemblage of Fos- 
sils that are spread over a large horizontal area, in any 
group of strata, we conclude that, when that group was in 
course of formation, there was a certain uniformity in the 
animal life that extended over the corresponding area of the 
globe ; just as, at the present day, the same species of ani- 
mals are found to flourish over a great part of Europe, or 
America. And if this uniformity of Fossil Remains does 
not extend horizontally to an indefinite distance, this is pre- 
cisely what we should have expected from the analogy of 
the existing creation : for, when we examine the present 
distribution of animal life over the earth, we find a marked 
diversity to exist between countries that are removed from 
one another; as, for instance, between Europe and Aus- 
tralia. 

In the next place, we are told that, as we proceed down- 
ward into the Crust of the Earthy each successive group of 



Principles of Geological Chronology. 2o5 

strata has an assemblage of Fossils clearly distinct in char- 
acter from those of the group above and of the group 
below. The conclusion to which this fact points is obvious 
enough. If, in the former case, we inferred that the animal 
life of any one period, considered in itself, was the same 
over extensive areas, in this case we must infer that the 
animal life of each successive period was peculiar to thai 
particular age ; being altogether distinct in its character 
from the animal life of the period that went before and of 
the period that followed. It would appear, therefore, as 
Sir Charles Lyell puts it, ''that from the remotest period 
there has been ever a coming in of new organic forms, and 
an extinction of those which pre-existed on the earth ; some 
species having endured for a longer, others for a shorter 
time ; while none have ever reappeared after once dying 
out." * 

Now, from these principles. Geologists have been grad- 
ually led to build up a system of Geological Chronol- 
ogy ; in other words, to determine the order of time in 
which the numerous groups of strata that make up the 
Crust of the Earth have been formed, and thus to fix the 
age of each group in reference to the rest. This Chronol- 
ogy is not reckoned by the, common measures of time 
which are used in history, but rather by the successive 
periods during which each group of rocks was in its turn 
slowly deposited on the existing surface of the globe. For 
example, the Coal-measures that so abound in the North 
of England are very much older than the bluish clay of 
which London is built. But if we ask what is the differ- 
ence between the age of the one and of the other, the 
answer is given not in days and years and centuries, but in 
the number of different Formations that intervened between 
the two. We are told that the Coal-measures belong to 
the Carboniferous Formation ; that this Formation was fol- 
* Elements of Geology, p. 95. 



2o6 Principles of Geological Chronology, 

lowed by ihe Permian, and that again in succession by the 
Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous ; and that, upon 
this last was spread out the Eocene, to which the London 
clay belongs. Indeed, as regards the precise length of any 
given period. Geologists can offer nothing but the wildest 
conjectures. Some form their estimates in thousands of 
years ; others in millions. And the wisest amongst them 
fairly confess they have no sufficient data to make an accu- 
rate computation. Nevertheless, they are all agreed in this, 
that the ages of which the memory is preserved in history, 
that is to say, the last six thousand years, are but a small 
part of one Geological period. Compared to the volumi- 
nous chronicles laid up in the Crust of the Earth, the records 
inscribed by human hands constitute but an insignificant 
fraction of the world's history. Our readers will be glad 
to learn something of the way in which this startling sys- 
tem of Geological Chronology is constructed and developed. 

At first sight, perhaps, it might be imagined that the 
order of time in which the various strata were deposited, 
can be easily learned from the relative position in which 
they lie. Since each stratum, when first produced, was 
spread out on the existing surface of the globe, it is clear 
that the one which lies uppermost in the series must be 
the newest, then that which lies next below, and so on till 
we reach the lowest of the pile, which must be the oldest 
of all. Nothing could be more satisfactory than this reason- 
ing, if each stratum was spread out over the whole Earth, 
and if, after having been once deposited, it was never after- 
ward removed. We might then regard each stratum as a 
volume in the Natural History of the Globe, which, when 
it was finished, was laid down upon that which contained 
the chronicles of the preceding age ; and thus the posi- 
tion of every stratum would be in itself a sufficient evidence 
of the age to which it belonged. 

But such is not the case. Nowhere does the Crust of 



Principles of Geological Chronology. 207 

the Earth exhibit a complete series of the Stratified Rocks 
laid out one above another. In any given section we can 
find but a few only of the long series of groups that are 
familiar to Geologists, And if we follow them on, in a 
horizontal direction, we shall invariably find that some of 
the strata will thin out and disappear, while new strata will 
gradually be developed between two groups that were be- 
fore in immediate contact. Let it be observed, in passing, 
that this fact fits in most perfectly with the theor}^ we have 
been all along defending. The Stratified Rocks were 
deposited under water ; therefore, the strata of any given 
period were not spread out over the whole Globe, but at most 
over those parts only which, for the time, were sub- 
merged. With the next period came a change in the 
boundaries of land and water ; and the formation of strata 
ceased in some localities and began in others : and so on 
from epoch to epoch. Thus the areas over which the pro- 
cess has been going on, have been, in every age, of limited 
extent, and have been ever shifting from place to place 
over the surface of the earth. Moreover, there is.the oppo- 
site process of Denudation. Many of the strata deposited 
in the depths of the ocean must have been afterward swept 
away by the breakers, as they slowly emerged from the 
waters ; or at a later time, reduced to their original ele- 
ments, and carried back to the sea, by the action of rivers, 
rain, and frost. It should seem, therefore, as well from the 
fact, which is obvious to any one who will examine it, as from 
our theory, which harmonizes so completely with the fact, 
that the strata which we meet with in any given section of 
the Earth's Crust present to us but a very broken and im- 
perfect series of monuments. They are, as it were, but 
odd volumes of a long series, and though they lie in juxta- 
position, they may belong, nevertheless, to Geological epochs 
widely removed from each other. 

Hence, in order to cons'.ruct a complete system of Geo- 



2o8 Principles of Geological Chronology, 

logical Chronology it is necessary to collect together these 
odd volumes, as they may be called, of the Great Geolog- 
ical Calendar, and to assign to each one its proper place in 
the series. This difficult and complicated task is accom- 
plished chiefly by the aid of Fossil Remains. We have 
already shown that the Fossil Remains which are found 
embedded in each group of strata, represent the organic 
life of the period during which that group of strata was in 
progress of formation. Moreover, we have seen that each 
period was marked by the existence of an animal and vege- 
table creation peculiar to itself. If, therefore, we find that 
the Fossils of two different districts exhibit the same gen- 
eral character, we may conclude that the beds in which 
they are preserved were deposited about the same age, and 
consequently belong to the same Geological Period. 
Whereas, on the other hand, if, within certain lipits, we 
discover two groups of strata, each of which has a collec- 
tion of Fossils totally different from the other, it is a proof 
that these two groups were not deposited in the same age, 
and must, consequently, be referred to different Epochs of 
the Geological Calendar. Let us now see in what manner 
the practical Geologist proceeds to apply these general 
principles. 

He takes first some one country, say England, and in 
that country he selects some one particular district to begin 
with. Here he examines a number of different sections, 
and makes himself familiar with all the strata of the neigh- 
borhood, and with the order in which they lie. Let us 
suppose that he finds three different groups spread out one 
above another, and let us call these groups A, B, and C ; 
A being the lowest, B immediately above A, and C above 
B. The chronological order of these strata will be, there- 
fore, A, B, C. He will study next the Fossil Remains 
which he finds embedded in each group. For convenience 
we may designate the Fossils of A by the letter a, those of 



Principles of Geological Chronology, 209 

B by b, and those of C by c. Now, according to the 
principles above explained, these three collections of Fos- 
sils will be specifically distinct from one another, each col- 
lection being characteristic of one particular set of strata. 
Our Geologist next goes into a neighboring district, and 
there examines a number of sections as before. Let us 
suppose that he encounters again the groups A and B. He 
may, perhaps, have been able to trace the beds from one 
district to the other, by observations made upon his line of 
route : or it may be that the nature of the country has ren- 
dered such observations impossible ; or the observations 
may have been so imperfect that from them he could arrive 
at no certain conclusion regarding the identity of the strata. 
But, at all events, if the new district yield an abundant 
supply of Fossils, he cannot long be at a loss. He will 
recognize the group A by the Fossils a, and the group B 
by the Fossils b. An important fact, however, soon 
attracts his attention. Group C has entirely disappeared, 
and is not to be found in this district ; while between A 
and B there is a new group of rocks that he has not seen be- 
fore, with a collection of Fossils different from a, b, and c. 
We will call this new group X, and its Fossils x. It is clear 
that the formation of X must have intervened between the 
formation of A and B ; and the chronological order now 
stands A, X, B, C. In Hke manner another district may 
disclose a fourth group of strata, say Y, intervening 
between B and C. The chronological order will then 
stand A, X, B, Y, C. And thus the Geologist pursues his 
explorations until he has gone through the whole country, 
and arranged the principal groups of strata according to 
the order of time in which they were deposited. 

In this way the whole of England has been minutely 
explored during the last half century. The task was first 
undertaken by William Smith, who is justly called the 
Father of English Geology. After multiplied researches^ 



2 TO Principles of Geological Chronology, 

extending over a space of many years, during which he 
travelled the whole country on foot, this eminent man 
published in 1815 his Geological Map of England and 
Wales with part of Scotland ; a work -which is described 
by Sir Charles Lyell as ''' a lasting monument of original 
talent and extraordinary perseverance. " Hundreds followed 
in the same course, exploring every day new districts, and, 
by the new facts which they brought to light, supplying 
what was wanting in the work of Smith, correcting what 
was faulty, and confirming what was true ; until at length, 
in our day, it may be said that the Stratified Rocks of Eng- 
land are almost as well known and as completely mapped 
out as are its counties and its towns, its rivers, lakes, and 
mountains. 

IMeanwhile, Geologists were not idle in other parts of the 
world. Germany, France, Italy, even many districts of 
America and Australia, have been diligently explored 
according to the same principles as England. And by a 
comparison of the observations made, the Chronological 
order of strata over a considerable part of the Earth, but 
more particularly of Europe, has been now pretty fairly 
ascertained. This order we have attempted to set forth in 
an intelligible and sensible form by means of the table here 
annexed. 

In the Woodcut are represented the strata hitherto exam- 
ined by Geologists, laid out one above another, according 
to the order of time in which they are supposed to have 
been produced. The whole series is divided into a number 
of Formations, the^names of which are given in the first 
column, together with an approximate estimate of their 
thickness, in feet. These Formations are distinguished 
from each other in the drawing by a diff"erence of shading. 
Each of them, according to Geological theory, is believed 
to have come into existence by the accumulation of 
solid matter at the bottom of the sea; and the Period of 



TABLE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS, 2 1 1 

CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. 




PLIOCENE. 







CRETACEOUS. 
12,000 



JURASSIC, 

5,000 



OD O OOOOOO 

o o o Ci-iALK o o o 

OOOOOO ooo 



w o j 




E^Nir^^a 



TRIASSIC 

,000 



NEW RED SANDSTONE ^r 



TERTIARY 

OR 

KAINOZOIC. 

ABOUT 

10,000 

FEET THICK. 



SECONDARY 

OB 

MESOZOIC. 

ABOUT 

20,000 

TEET THICK. 




212 Table of Strata explained, 

time occupied in its production is usually designated by the 
same name as the Formation itself. Thus we read of the 
Carboniferous Formation and the Carboniferous Period : 
by the former phrase is meant certain groups of strata con- 
temporaneously deposited over various parts of the Earth's 
surface ; and by the latter, the Period of time during which 
these groups of strata were spread out. In like manner, 
when we hear of the Carboniferous Fauna and Flora, we 
are to understand the animal and vegetable life that flour- 
ished during the Carboniferous Period. And again, when 
Geologists talk of the Cretaceous sea, and tell us that it 
rolled over a great part of what is now called Europe, they 
mean to speak of that sea on the bottom of which the Cre- 
taceous rocks were deposited. 

Most of the Formations comprise various groups of 
strata ; and these groups are made up of different varieties 
of rocks, which are again divided into layers or beds of 
varying thickness. Even in these beds themselves we can 
often distinguish an indefinite number of laminae or plates, 
scarcely thicker than a sheet of paper, which correspond to 
the periodical depositions of matter by which the rock was 
originally formed. These numerous subdivisions may be 
conveniently illustrated from the Carboniferous, Formation. . 
It is divided into two leading groups of strata ; the Mountain 
Limestone below, the Coal Measures above. The upper 
group is the larger as well as the more important. It attains 
a maximum thickness in South Wales of 12,000 feet; and 
consists of numerous strata of Sandstone and Shale, with 
thin seams of Coal occasionally interposed. In one 
remarkable instance a hundred distinct layers of Coal, vary- 
ing in thickness from six inches to ten feet, have been 
counted in one Coal-field, each resting on a bed of Shale, 
called in mining phraseology the Underclay. This Shale 
itself naturally divides into an indefinite number of thin 
plates, just like the strMum of mud accumulated by the 



Table of Strata explained, 213 

annual inundations of the river Nile, and constituting the 
present soil of Egypt. 

We have not attempted to represent in our Woodcut 
these various divisions and subdivisions of Stratified Rocks. 
But the names of some important and well-known groups 
we have had engraved, to impress more vividly on the mind 
the place to which they are to be referred in the Geological 
Calendar. Thus the reader may see at a glance the respect- 
ive ages of the Coal and the Chalk ; of the Lias, in which 
are preserved the remains of extinct gigantic reptiles, and 
the Glacial Drift, in which the elephant, the rhinoceros, 
and the hippopotamus are found entombed ; of the Moun- 
tain Limestone, which is often nothing else than vast beds 
of Coral uplifted from beneath the waters of the ocean, and 
the Oolite, which includes the Portland quarries, where the 
petrified stems of ancient forest trees are found standing 
erect in the solid rock. 

As the series of Stratified Rocks is divided by Geologists 
into a certain number or systems or Formations, so these 
are again grouped into still larger classes, called Primary, 
Secondary', and Tertiar}' ; that is to say, first, second, and 
third, in the order of formation. These larger classes cor- 
respond to the Great Epochs or Ages of Geological time, 
each comprising within itself many distinct Periods. The 
Primary rocks are also called Palaeozoic — ■n'aXajov, ancient, 
and fojov, an organic being — because they contain the old- 
est forms of organic life : in like manner the term Meso- 
zoic — juetfov, middle, and fwov — is applied to the Second- 
ary strata, inasmuch as they contain the middle or interme- 
diate forms of organic life : and the name Kainozoic — 
jcaivo'v, new, and |wov — is given to the Tertiary, which con- 
tain the newest forms of organic life. 

The term Post-Tertiary has recently been adopted to 
designate those superficial deposits which are subsequent 
to the Tertiary Age. They are divided into two groups ; 



2 14 Table of Strata explained, 

the Recent, which corresponds with the period of history, 
and the Post-Pliocene which precedes it. Some writers 
seem to think that these deposits, being so very insignifi- 
cant and so very modern when compared with the long 
series of Stratified Rocks, are not truly Geological. But 
this, we should say, is a mistaken view of the question. 
It seems to us that even the minute layer of mud that is 
deposited every day at the mouth of the Ganges or the Mis- 
sissippi, is linked on to the long chain of events which have 
brought the Crust of the Earth into its present condition ; 
and, therefore, truly belongs to the science of Geology, and 
is deserving of its proper place in Geological classification. 
We may here observe that the names of the great Geolog- 
ical Epochs are descriptive names ; that is to say, the ob- 
vious meaning of the words corresponds to the character 
of the strata they are used to represent. Primary, Second- 
ary, Tertiary, mean First, Second,. and Third, in the order 
of formation : Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Kainozoic, sig- 
nify that the strata so called are characterized by Ancient, 
Middle, and Modern, forms of organic life. But it is very 
often quite otherwise with the names of the several Forma- 
tions : and this is a point of no small importance to the 
student of Geology. These names must be regarded sim^ 
ply as names employed to designate the strata formed in 
each successive period, and not exactly to describe their 
character. They generally had their origin in some acci- 
dental circumstance, or were derived from some particular 
locality ; and afterward, being perpetuated, gradually came 
to receive a much more extended application than that 
which the words themselves would seem to suggest. Thus, 
for instance, the Cretaceous Formation is so called from 
the remarkable stratum of white chalk (creta) which was 
deposited during that period over a great part of Europe ; 
but it would be a mistake to suppose that the w'hole For- 
mation is made up of chalk. On the contrary, in different 



Table of Strata explained. 2 1 5 

localities it is composed of very different materials ; near 
Dresden, for example, it is a gray quartzose sandstone, and 
in many parts of the Alps it is hard compact limestone.* 
Again, the Devonian Formation derives its name from 
Devonshire, where the rocks of the Devonian period were 
first minutely examined ; but we must not therefore infer 
that this Formation is peculiar to the county of Devon; it is 
to be found in many other parts of England, also in Ireland, 
and on the continent of Europe. So, too, another For- 
mation has received the name of Carboniferous, which liter- 
ally means Coal-bearing (carbo fero) because of the beds 
of Coal which are sometimes associated with its strata ; yet 
this Formation is often found quite destitute of Coal over a 
very extensive area. 

In looking over our Table of strata the reader must have 
noticed that the successive spaces in the Woodcut are not 
proportioned to the actual thickness of the successive 
Formations for which they stand. The Secondary and 
Tertiary Rocks taken together are scarcely one-third as 
thick, in reality, as the Primary ; yet they occupy an equal 
space in the engraving : and, more remarkable still, the 
Cretaceous system is allowed double the space of the Lau- 
rentian, though less than half as thick. This circumstance 
calls for a passing word of explanation. In the early 
annals of a country there is generally a great scarcity of 
authentic records ; and, from a- simple dearth of facts, the 
history of a whole century is compressed, not unfrequently, 
into a few pages : whereas, in later times, when documentary 
evidence begins to accumulate, the historians will often 
spread out the events of two or three years over several chap- 
ters. Something of the same kind takes place in Geology. 
The Fossil Remains, from which, as from authentic docu- 
ments, the Geologist chiefly derives his information re- 
garding the history of the Earth's Crust, are scanty in the 

* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., p. 115. 



2i6 Table of Strata explained, 

earlier Formations, and abundant in the more recent. And 
thus it happens that the older Geological Periods, not- 
withstanding the vast thickness of the rocks by which they 
are represented, do not occupy a very prominent position 
in the annals of Geology, and are compressed into a com- 
paratively insignificant space in its Tables. Nevertheless, 
the immense depth of the earliest Stratified Rocks must be 
taken into account in any attempt to estimate the compara- 
tive duration of the several Geological Periods. We have, 
therefore, set down, under the name of each Formation, 
an approximate estimate of its actual thickness, taken 
chiefly from the works of Doctor Haughton and Sir Charles 
Lyell. 

Before bringing this chapter to an end we would observe 
that the system of classification we have here endeavored to 
explain does not pretend to be final and complete. It is, 
on the contrary, little more than a temporary expedient to 
render intelligible the results at which Geologists have 
hitherto arrived ; and is liable to manifold modifications in 
proportion as their acquaintance with the records they have 
undertaken to interpret becomes more extensive and more 
minute. All that they now contend for is this : that the 
successive Formations represent successive Periods of time, 
which followed one another in the order here set forth, and 
during which the Earth was peopled with certain species 
of Plants and Animals, for the most part peculiar to their 
respective eras.* 

* Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. lOO. 



CHAPTER XIIL 



GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY REMARKS ON THE SUCCESSION OF 

ORGANIC LIFE. 

Summary of the history of stratified rocks — Striking charac- 
teristics of certain formations — Human remains found only 
in superficial deposits — Gradual transition from the organic 
life of one period to that of the next — Evidence in favor 
of this opinion — Advance from lower to higher types of 
organic life as we ascend from the older to the more recent 
formations — Economic value of geological chronology — Ilhis- 
tration — Search for coal — The practical man at fault — The 
geologist comes to his aid, and saves him from useless ex- 
pense. 




ITH this sketch of Geological Chronology before 
us, we can now more fully realize to our minds the 
story we are told about the formation of the Earth's 
Crust. In the earliest age to which Geologists can trace 
back the history of the Aqueous Rocks — for they do not pro- 
fess to trace it back to the beginning — this Globe of ours was, 
as it is now, partly covered with water, and partly dry land. 
The formation of stratified rocks went on in that age, as it is 
still going on, chiefly over those areas that were under water — 
not indeed throughout the entire extent of such areas, but 
over certain portions of them to which mineral matter hap- 
pened to be carried by the action of natural cause?. And 
the Earth was peopled then as now, though with animals and 
plants very different from those by which we are surrounded 
at the present day. Some of these happened to escape 

lO 



2i8 History of the Stratified Rocks. 

destruction, and to be embedded in the deposits of that fal 
distant age, and have thus been preserved even to our time. 
And these strata with their Fossils are the same that we now 
group together under the title of the Laurentian Formation: 
which being the oldest group of stratified rocks we can 
recognize in the depths of the Earth's Crust, occupies the 
lowest position in our table of Chronology. Ages rolled 
on ; and the Crust of the Earth was moved from within by 
some giant force, the bed of the ocean was lifted up in one 
place, islands and continents were submerged in another, 
and so the outlines of land and water were changed. With 
this change the old forms of life passed away ; a new crea- 
tion came in ; and the Laurentian period gave place to 
the Cambrian. But the order of nature was still the same 
as before. The deposition of stratified rocks still continued, 
though the areas of deposition were, in many cases, shifted 
from one locality to another. And the organic life that 
flourished in the Cambrian times left its memorials behind 
it buried in the Cambrian rocks. Then that age, too, came 
to an end, and gave place in its turn to the Silurian : and 
this was, again, followed by the Devonian. Thus one 
period succeeded to another in the order set forth in our 
table ; and every part of the globe was, in the course of 
ages, more than once submerged, and covered with the 
deposits of more than one age, and enriched with the 
Organic Remains of more than one creation. 

As we advance upward in the series of Formations we 
soon perceive that the Fossil Remains, which, in the 
earlier groups were scanty enough, become profusely abun- 
dant, until even the unpractised eye cannot fail to mark the 
peculiar character of each successive period ;— the exuber- 
ant vegetation of the Carboniferous, with its luxuriant 
herbage and its tangled forests, its huge pines, its tall tree- 
ferns, and its stately araucarias ; the enormous creeping 
monsters of the Jurassic, the .ichthyosaurs, the megalosaurs. 



Ancient hihabitants of the Earth . 219 

the iguanodons, which filled its seas, or crowded its plains, 
or haunted its rivers ; and higher up in the scale, the co- 
lossal quadrupeds of the JMiocene and the Pliocene, the 
mammoths, the mastodons, the megatheriums, which be- 
gin to approximate more closely to the organic types of our 
own age. But amidst these various forms of life, the eye 
looks in vain for any relic of human kind. No bone of 
man, no trace of human intelligence, is to be found in any 
bed of rock that belongs to the Primary, Secondary, or 
Tertiary Formations. It is only when we have passed all 
these, and come to the latest formation of the whole series, 
nay, it is only in the uppermost beds of this Formation, that 
we meet, for the first time, with human bones, and the 
works of human art. 

Thus it appears pretty plain, even from the testimony of 
Geology, that man was the last work of the creation ; and 
that, if the world is old, the human race is comparatively 
young. These broken and imperfect records, which have 
been so curiously preserved in the Crust of the Earth, 
carry us back to an antiquity which may not be measured 
by years and centuries, and then set before us, as in a pal- 
pable form, how the tender herbage appeared, and the 
fruit-tree yielding fruit according to its kind ; and how the 
Earth was afterward peopled with great creeping things, 
and winged fowl, and the cattle, and the beasts of the 
field ; and then, at length, they disclose to us how, last of 
all, man appeared, to whom all these things seem to tend, 
and who was to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 
the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon 
the earth. We do not mean to dwell just now upon this 
view of the history of creation so clearly displayed in the 
records of Geology. But we shall return to it hereafter 
when we come in the sequel to consider how admirably the 
genuine truths of this science fit in with the inspired nar- 
rative of Moses. 



2 20 Extinction and Introduction of 

It may here, very naturally, be asked, if the records of 
Geology give us any information as to the manner in which 
each period of animal and vegetable life was brought to an 
end ? Did the old organic forms gradually die out, and 
the new gradually come in to take their places ? or were 
the one suddenly extinguished and the others as suddenly 
produced? This question has been a subject of contro- 
versy among Geologists themselves ; and therefore it is 
somewhat outside our scope, since we propose to exhibit 
only that more general outline of Geological theory which is 
accepted by all. Nevertheless, as it is a question that must 
needs occur to the mind of every reader, it seems to call 
for a few words of explanation as we pass along. In the 
early days of Geology, it was commonly held that each 
great period was brought to an end by a sudden and vio- 
lent convulsion of Nature. The Crust of the Earth was 
burst open in many places all at once ; the bottom of the 
ocean was upheaved with a tremendous shock ; the waters, 
driven from their accustomed bed, rushed with, furious 
impetuosity over islands and continents ; and the whole 
existing creation perished in a universal deluge. Then 
succeeded an interval of chaotic confusion, and when at 
length the waters subsided, and dry land again appeared, a 
new age in the history of the Globe was ushered in, and 
the Earth was again peopled by a new creation. 

But this old theory has gradually given way as the Strati- 
fied Rocks have been more and more fully examined, and 
at the present day it is almost universally abandoned. 
Geologists have observed that the same species of Fossil 
Remains which prevail in the upper beds of one Formation, 
are met with also in the lower beds of the next, though in 
less numbers and mixed up with new species ; and that, as 
we ascend higher and higher into the later Formation, the 
old species gradually become more and more scarce, 
while the new gradually become more and more numerous ; 



species not sudden^ but gradual, 221 

until at length the characteristic forms of one age have dis- 
appeared altogether, and those of the succeeding age have 
attained their full development. 

For this important fact, which was brought to light 
within the last half century, we are mainly indebted to the 
unwearied researches and great ability of Sir Charles Lyell. 
Speaking of the Formations of the Tertiary Epoch, to 
which, as is well known, he has principally devoted him- 
self, this distinguished writer thus sums up the result of his 
long investigation: — *'In passing from the older to the 
newer members of the Tertiary system we meet with many 
chasms, but none which separate entirely, by a broad line 
of demarkation, one state of the organic world from 
another. There are no signs of an abrupt termination of 
one fauna and flora, and the starting into life of new and 
wholly distinct forms. Although we are far from being 
able to demonstrate geologically an insensible transition 
from the Eocene to the Miocene, or even from the latter to 
the recent fauna, yet the more we enlarge and perfect our 
general survey, the more nearly do we approximate to such 
a continuous series, and the more gradually are we con- 
ducted from times when many of the genera and nearly all 
the species were extinct, to those in which scarcely a single 
species flourished which we do not know to exist at pres- 
sent."* Hence he concludes, and his conclusion is now 
the common doctrine of Geologists, that the extinction 
and creation of species has been "the result of a slow and 
gradual change in the organic world." f 

It was long argued against this view, that we often meet, 
especially in the Primary and Secondary Formations, two 
gioups of strata in immediate contact, in which there is a 
perfectly sudden transition from one set of Fossil Remains 
to another altogether diff"erent. Each group contains a 
countless variety of species, and yet there is not a single 

* Principles of Geology, vol. i., p. 312. f lb. 313. 



2 22 Strata in immediate Co?ttact not always 

species common to the two. Does it not appear that in 
such a case the organic life of one period was suddenly 
destroyed, and that of the next as suddenly introduced ? 
Not so ; there is one link wanting in the argument. It 
must be shown that these two strata which are now in im- 
mediate contact were originally deposited in immediate suw mis- 
sion. But this it is impossible to prove : nay, it must needs 
be very often false. We have before observed that the 
areas of deposition were limited in. every age, and were 
ever shifting from one locality to another. Therefore it 
must have been a frequent occurrence that, after one bed 
of rock was formed, the process of deposition ceased alto- 
gether in that locality, and did not begin again for many 
ages. Thus a long lapse of time often intervened between 
the deposidon of two strata, which were laid out one imme- 
diately above the other. Furthermore, we have also seen 
that whole groups of strata may in any age be swept away 
by Denudation ; and then the rocks which are next depos- 
ited in that locality, will be in immediate contact with 
strata indefinitely more ancient than themselves. From these 
considerations it is plain that two groups of strata which are 
now found in juxtaposition, may have been deposited in 
two Geological ages widely remote from each other. And 
consequently a sudden transition from the Organic Life of 
one group to the Organic Life of the other affords no proof 
o£ a sudden transition from the Organic Life of one 
Geological Period to the Organic Life of that which next 
succeeded. We may observe, however, that the recent re- 
searches, which have contributed so much to fill up the 
interstices of the Geological Calendar, have conduced in no 
small degree to fill up likewise some of the more remark- 
able gaps or chasms in the succession of Organic Life. It 
is, therefore, not unreasonable to suppose that, as our 
knowledge of the Earth's Crust becomes more and more 
minute, the sudden breaks. in the continuity of the scale 



Deposited ill immediate Succession. 223 

will be still further diminished and the successive stages of 
gradual transition will be made more clearly apparent. 

This subject has been very happily illustrated by Sir 
Charles Lyell : — "To make still more clear the supposed 
working of this machinery [for the deposition of Stratified 
Rocks and the preservation of Organic Remains], I shall 
compare it to a somewhat analogous case that might be 
imagined to occur in the history of human affairs. Let the 
mortality of the population of a' large country represent the 
successive extinction of species, and the birth of new in- 
dividuals, the introduction of new species. While these 
fluctuations are gradually taking place everywhere, suppose 
commissioners to be appointed to visit each province of the 
country in succession, taking an exact account of the 
number, names, and individual peculiarities of all the 
inhabitants, and leaving in each district a register contain- 
ing a record of this information. If, after the completion 
of one census, another is immediately made on the same 
plan, and then another, there will, at last, be a series of 
statistical documents in each province. When these belong- 
ing to any one province are arranged in chronological order, 
the contents of such as stand next to each other will differ 
according to the length of time between the taking of each 
census. If, for example, there are sixty provinces, and all 
the registers are made in a single year, and renewed annu- 
ally, the number of births and deaths w^ill be so small in 
proportion to the whole of the inhabitants, during the in- 
terval between the compiling of two consecutive documents, 
that the individuals described in such documents will be 
nearly identical ; whereas, if the survey of each of the sixty 
provinces occupies all the commissioners for a whole year, 
so that they are unable to revisit the same place until the 
expiration of sixty years, there will then be an almost entire 
discordance between the persons enumerated in two con- 
secutive registers in the same province. 



2 24 Illustration of Sir Charles LyelL 

"But I must remind the reader that the case above 
proposed has no pretentions to be regarded as an exact 
parallel to the Geological phenomena which I desire to 
illustrate ; for the commissioners are supposed to visit the 
different provinces in rotation ; whereas the commemorat- 
ing processes by which organic remains become fossilized, 
although they are always shifting from one area to the 
other, are yet very irregular in their movements. They 
may abandon and revisit many spaces again and again, 
before they once approach another district; and besides 
this source of irregularity, it may often happen that, while 
the depositing process is suspended, Denudation may take 
place, which may be compared to the occasional destruc- 
tion by fire or other causes of some of th6 statistical docu- 
ments before mentioned. It is evident that where such 
accidents occur, the want of continuity in the series may 
become indefinitely great, and that the monuments which 
follow next in succession will by no means be equi-distant 
from each other in point of time. 

'*If this train of reasoning be admitted, the occasional 
distinctness of the fossil remains, in formations immediately 
in contact, would be a necessary consequence of the exist- 
ing laws of sedimentary deposition and subterranean move^- 
ment, accompanied by a constant mortality and renovation 
o^ species. " * 

There is another and a very striking fact in the succes- 
sion of ancient organic life, which claims from us a mo- 
ment's notice. As we proceed upward through the series 
of Stratified Rocks, from the oldest to the newest, we find 
a gradual advance in the types of animal organization 
therein preserved, from the humbler and more simple forms 
of structure to those of a higher and more perfect character. 
That form of organization is regarded among Zoologists as 
the more perfect in which there is "a greater number of 

* Principles of Geology, yol. i., pp. 321, 322. 



Adva 7tcino- Fo rms of L ife. 2 2 5 

organs specially devoted to particular functions. " Now all 
the forms of animal life with which we are acquainted, may 
be reduced to two great divisions, the Vertebrate and the In- 
vertebrate, — the former having a z;^/'/f3/'^/ or spinal column, 
the latter having none : and it is agreed in conformity with 
the notion set forth above, that the Vertebrate animals as a 
class exhibit a more perfect organization than the Inverte- 
brate. Again, among the Vertebrate themselves there is a 
gradation ; the Reptiles are ranked higher than the Fish, 
the Birds higher than the Reptiles, and the Mammalia 
higher again than the Birds. 

All this we learn from Zoologists, who have pursued their 
investigations without any reference whatever to the science 
of Geology. It is, therefore, not a little remarkable that we 
should discover this very order and gradation of animal life in 
the successive groups of Stratified Rocks. All the Remains 
hitherto discovered in the earliest Geological Formations 
belong to Invertebrate animals, while the Vertebrate, which 
appear for the first time in the latter part of the Silurian 
Period, are, from that age on, more and more fully devel- 
oped down to the present day, and now constitute, if not 
the most numerous, at least the most important part of the 
animal creation. Moreover, it is to be observed that the 
Vertebrate animals do not all make their appearance at 
once, but come in successively according to the same scale 
of organic perfection, — the Fish appearing first, then the 
Reptiles, then the Birds, and lastly the Mammaha. Even 
among the Mammalia a well-defined order of progressive 
succession has been observed, which finally culminates in 
the appearance of Man, the last created and the most per- 
fect of animals. 

This remarkable succession of animal life in the history 

of the Earth's Crust will be more readily understood by 

means of the annexed Table. The remains of Invertebrate 

animals have been traced as far back as the Lower Lauren- 

10* 



226 



TABLE OF GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS, 



SHOWING THE FIRST APPEARANCE ON THE EARTH OF THE VARIOUS FORMS 

OF ANIMAL LIFE. 




Explanation of the Table, 227 

tian Rocks. The Vertebrate first become manifest in the 
Ludlow beds of the Upper Silurian ; where they are repre- 
sented by the bones of Fish, the lowest class belonging to 
the Province of Vertebrates. Next in order come the Rep- 
tiles : the oldest known Reptile having been found in the 
Coal Measures of Saarbrtick between Strasburg and Treves. 
The skeletons of Birds are rare in the Stratified Rocks. It 
is supposed that their powers of flight have in all ages 
secured them, to great a extent, from being carried away 
by floods, like other land animals, and buried in the sedi- 
mentary deposits of rivers and estuaries. Nevertheless their 
presence in the ancient world is frequently attested by their 
footsteps, impressed originally on the sandy beach, and 
still preserved now that the soft sand has been converted 
into solid rock. Such traces have been discovered in great 
abundance on the New Red Sandstone of the Connecticut 
River in America ; and afford the earliest evidence we pos- 
sess in the records of Geology regarding the existence of 
the feathered tribe. This group of strata belongs to the 
lower Trias. In the higher beds of the same Formation we 
meet with the first relic of ancient Mammals. It was found 
near Stuttgardt, in 1847, ^"^ belongs to the more imper- 
fect form of Mammalian life, the Non-Placental. Similar 
remains have been since discovered in the Upper Trias of 
Somersetshire. The Placental, or more perfect form of 
animal life in the same class, first appears in the Eocene 
Formation : and the bones of Man, the highest of the Pla- 
centals, are found for the first time in the upper deposits of 
the Post-Tertiary Age. 

Let it be remembered that we are here but stating the 
facts which have been hitherto brought to light by the 
researches of Geologists. It may be, it is indeed most 
probable, that new discoveries will lead to numerous modi- 
fications in our Table. There is no reason to suppose that 
Geologists have yet exhumed the earliest remains of Verte- 



2 28 Explanation of the Table. 

brates or Invertebrates preserved in the Crust of the Earth : 
that Fish may not hereafter be traced back beyond the Si- 
lurian, or Reptiles beyond the Carboniferous Period : that 
Birds may not be found among the Primary Rocks, and 
Placentals among the Secondary. But in a science which 
depends mainly upon observation, it is better to register 
the facts we have than to speculate idly about those we have 
not. And, having registered them, we cannot fail to be 
struck with the succession of animal life on the Earth, to 
which they seem to point. It is certainly deserving of 
notice that, as far as the Organic Remains hitherto dis- 
covered may be taken as a guide. Invertebrates and Verte- 
brates, Fish, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals, Non-Placen- 
tals and Placentals, follow one another in the ascending 
series of Geological Formations exactly in the same order 
as they follow one another in the ascending scale of Zoolog- 
ical Classification. 

And so Geologists go on ever searching out new phe- 
nomena, and grouping them together into classes, until 
from particular facts they lead us to general truths. Then 
starting with these general truths as the groundwork of their 
science, they proceed to sketch out the Natural History of 
our Globe from the remotest ages of the past down to the 
present time. They first study the stratified deposits of each 
succeeding age, and analyze the Fossil Remains embedded 
therein ; afterward they make their inferences, and they 
compile their histor}^ They describe the forms, the char- 
acter, the habits, of the plants and animals that flourished 
of old in this world of ours ; they tell us where the deep 
sea rolled its waves in each succeeding age,, and where the 
dry land appeared; they point out the Deltas of its ancient 
rivers, they measure the breadth of its Estuaries, they 
trace the course of its Glaciers, they mark the outlines of 
its Mountain chains. But with these- and such like specu- 



- Economic Value of Geology. 229 

lations we are not here concerned. Many of them are open 
to controversy, and not a few are at this moment warmly 
disputed among Geologists themselves : besides, whether 
true or false, they do not in any way affect the relations 
between Geology and Revealed Religion. We shall be 
quite content, and it is all that our present scope demands, 
if we have made intelligible the general theory of Geolog- 
ical Chronology, and the kind of evidence on which it rests. 

Before taking leave of this subject, however, we will ven- 
ture to offer what seems to us an interesting illustration of 
the principles we have been explaining in the last two 
chapters ; — one that will help to confirm the conclusions 
for which we have been contending, and that will also 
bring home to many minds the practical advantage to be 
derived from a thorough knowledge and just application of 
Geological science. Perhaps, too, it may help to revive 
the flagging attention of our readers ; for the subject of our 
illustration is Coal, and the way to find it. In this age of 
manufactories and steam-engines, — when the atmosphere 
of great towns is heavy with smoke, and the quiet solitude 
of the country is so rudely disturbed by the shrieking of the 
railway-whistle and the snorting of the sooty locomotive, — 
this black, dirty mineral has acquired a value and impor- 
tance, which may succeed in rousing even the practical 
money-making man to pay some heed to the lessons of 
science. 

Coal might have been produced in any Geological Pe- 
riod ; and in point of fact, beds of coal have been discov- 
ered in many different Formations. But in England, and 
in Western Europe generally, it has been found by long 
experience that the Coal-beds of the Carboniferous Forma- 
tion are more abundant, and of better quality, than those 
of any other. Indeed the beds of Coal that occur in other 
Formations are so thin, and of such inferior quality, that 
they cannot be worked with profit. It is therefore of the 



230 Search for Coal, 

highest importance in the search for Coal, before going to 
the enormous expense of sinking deep shafts, to discover 
whether or no the rocks in which the search is to be made 
belong to the Carboniferous Period. In this matter the 
more practical man is often seriously at fault. Coal-bearing 
strata generally consist pretty largely of dark-colored clay, 
black shales, and similar deposits. This is a fact which, 
as it strikes the eye, is perfectly familiar to all who are 
engaged in the working of Coal mines. Hence it hap- 
pens, not unfrequently, that the practical man, when he 
meets with strata of this kind, is apt at once to infer that 
Coal is near at hand. The Geologist, on the contrary. 
Knows well that such strata are not peculiar to the Carbon- 
iferous rocks, but are often found in other Formations in 
which there is no Coal at all, or at least no Coal that will 
repay the expense of working ; and therefore he will pro- 
nounce it most rash to undertake costly works on the 
strength of these appearances. He has learned, however,^ 
that there are certain species of animals and plants which 
are found in the Carboniferous rocks and in them alone ; 
he will search for these in the strata which it is proposed 
to explore, and by their presence or their absence he will 
know whether the strata in question belong to the Caibon- 
iferous Formation or not. 

Again, it will often happen that, in the midst of an exten- 
sive region well known to abound in Coal, the rocks which 
appear at the surface in one particular locality, are not 
wholly devoid of Coal, but exhibit no resemblance either 
in mineral character or in Fossil Remains to the Coal- 
bearing strata. A question then arises of the highest prac- 
tical importance. May it be' that the Coal-bearing strata 
are spread out beneath this uppermost bed of rocks } and 
is it worth the expense to sink a shaft through the one in 
the hope of reaching the other.? The practical miner has 
no very clear or certain principles to help him in the solu- 



Application of Geological Chronology. 231 

tion of this problem; and thus it has often happened that 
thousands upon thousands of pounds have been expended 
in sinking shafts to look for Coal, where, as it afterward 
proved, there was not the slightest chance of finding it. 
Now, though Geology cannot tell if we shall succeed in 
finding Coal beneath these rocks, it can tell if there is 



a good cha?ice of succeeding. It can tell whether there is 
a reasonable hope, by penetrating into the Crust of the 
Earth at this particular spot, of reaching the Carboniferous 
Formation ; and if we can reach the Carboniferous Forma- 
tion in the midst of a Coal district, it is very likely we shall 
meet with beds of Coal. 

His first object will be to ascertain what is the Formation 
to which the superficial rocks belong. If it be a Formation 
earlier in date than the Carboniferous, — the Silurian, for 
instance, or the Devonian, — he knows that it would be 
simply waste of money to look for Coal beneath them ; 
because the Carboniferous rocks cannot possibly be found 
underneath the rocks of an earlier age. And so the 
Geologist can tell beforehand what the mere practical man 
would find out only when he had spent his money. If, on 
the other hand, the rocks which appear at the surface be- 
long to a period later than the Carboniferous, the Geologist 
will not always conclude that it is expedient to sink a shaft 
in search of Coal. For though the Carboniferous rocks 
may, in this case, be underneath, they may be so far down 
in the Crust of the Earth that we should have no chance 
of ever reaching them. Suppose, for example, that the 
strata which appear at the surface belong to the Cretaceous 
Formation. He knows from his Chronological table that 
the Carboniferous age is separated from the Cretaceous by 
three intermediate Periods, — the Permian, the Triassic, the 
Jurassic. Therefore, when he finds the Cretaceous rocks 
at the surface in any locality, it is quite possible, though 
of course not certain, that before the Carboniferous Forma- 



232 Application of Geological Chronology, 

tion could be reached it would be necessarj' to bore through 
thousands of feet of Jurassic, Triassic, and Permian rocks. 
And even then there would be no certainty of meeting with 
the Coal-bearing strata. Perhaps they were never deposited 
over this area of the earth's surface ; or, if deposited, per- 
haps they were subsequently swept away by Denudation. 
Hence our Geologist would reasonably conclude that, the 
probable expense of the search being so enormous, and the 
chance of success so remote, it would be much wiser not 
to make the attempt. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT ITS EXISTENCE DEMONSTRATED 

BY FACTS. 

Theory of stratified rocks supposes disturbances of the earth's 
crust — These disturbances ascribed by geologists to the action 
of subterranean heat — The existence of subterranean heat, 
and its power to iiiove the crust of the earth, proved by 
direct evidence — Supposed igneous origin of our globe — 
Remarkable increase of temperature as we descend into the 
earths crust — Hot springs — Artesian wells — Steam issuing 
from crevices i7i the earth — The geysers of Iceland — A 
glimpse at the siibterranean fires — Mount Vesuvius in 1779 
— Vast extent of volcanic action — Existence of sttbterratiean 
heat an established fact. 




N developing the modern theory of Geology, we 
have all along assumed that the Crust of the 
Earth has been subject to frequent disturbances 
from the earliest ages of the world. Again and again, in 
the course of our argument, we have talked of the bed of 
the sea being lifted up, and converted into dry land ; and, 
on the other hand, of the diy land being submerged beneath 
the waters of the sea. We have not even hesitated to 
suppose that these two opposite movements of upheaval 
and submersion often took place by turns over the same 
area ; nay, that there is scarcely a region on the surface of 
the Globe which has not been several times submerged, and 
several times again upheaved. 

Yet all this has not been taken for granted without proof. 



2 34 Disturbances of the Eartli s Crust. 

Our readers have seen what a long array of sober reasoning 
may be drawn out to show that the Stratified Rocks have 
been, for the most part, deposited under water: — first, from 
the nature and arrangement of the materials which compose 
them ; secondly, from the character of the Organic Re- 
mains they contain. And since they are now above water ^ 
it is plain that either they have been lifted or the ocean has 
subsided. Furthermore, if we find, as we often do, two 
strata- in immediate succession, the one underneath, ex- 
hibiting the trees of an ancient forest still standing erect 
with their roots attached, the other above, abounding in 
the remains of aquatic animals ; we must conclude that 
when the ancient forest flourished this portion of the 
Earth's Crust was above the level of the sea ; that afterward 
it was submerged, and a new deposit, in which the marine 
remains were embedded, was spread out above the earlier 
vegetation ; and that, last of all it again emerged from the 
waters, and became once more dry land. Finally, when a 
vertical section of the Earth's Crust exhibits a continued 
series of such strata alternating with each other, it afl'ords a 
proof that this particular area must have been several times 
under water, and several times again dry land, in the long 
course of ages. 

These conclusions are now all but universally received 
among Geologists. The Crust of the Earth, we are 
assured, is not that unyielding and immovable mass which 
men commonly take it to be. On the contrary, it has been 
from the beginning ever resdess and in motion, rising here 
and subsiding there, sometimes with a convulsive shock 
capable of upturning, twisting, distorting hard and stubborn 
rocks as if they were but flimsy layers of pliant clay ; some- 
times with a gentle, undulating movement, which, while it 
uplifts islands and continents, leaves the general aspect of 
the surface unchanged, the arrangement of the strata un- 
disturbed, and even the most tender Fossils unharmed. 



Subterranea n Heat, 235 

Disturbances of this kind have been going on in various 
parts of the world even within the period of history ; and 
they may be distinctly traced to the action of subterranean 
Heat. In support of a theory so startling and unexpected, 
Geologists appeal to the direct evidence of facts : and we 
now propose to bring some of these facts under the notice 
of our readers. 

At the outset, however, it is important to set forth clearly 
the doctrine we hope to illustrate and confirm. With the 
origin of the internal heat that prevails within the Crust of 
the Earth we have no concern. This is still an unsettled 
point among Geologists themselves. Some conjecture that 
our Globe, when first launched into space, was in a state of 
igneous fusion ; that is to say, that all the solid matter of 
which it is composed was held in a molten condition by the 
action of intense heat ; that, in course of time, as this heat 
passed off by radiation, the surface gradually cooled and 
grew hard ; that an external shell of solid rock was thus 
formed,' which has been ever growing thicker in proportion 
as the Earth has been growing cooler ; and that the actual 
condition of our planet is the result of this process contin- 
ued down to the present day, — a fiery mass of seething 
mineral within, and a comparatively thin crust of consoli- 
dated rock without. Others suppose that the internal heat 
of the Globe is developed by the agency of chemical changes 
constantly going on in the depths of the Earth ; and others, 
again, look for a cause to the action of electricity and mag- 
netism. But these and such like speculations are still under 
discussion, and not one of them can be regarded as any- 
thing more, at best, than a satisfactory hypothesis. Any- 
how, it is not about the causes of internal heat that we are 
just now interested, but about the fact of its existence, and 
the nature of its effects. Is it true that an intense heat pre- 
vails very generally beneath the superficial covering of the 
Globe } and is that heat capable of producing those stupen- 



236 The Question stated. 

dous changes which are ascribed to it in our theory of Geol- 
ogy ? These are the questions to which we mean to devote 
our chief attention. 

It is a very significant fact, that the deeper we penetrate into 
the Crust of the Earth, the hotter it is. At first, no doubt, 
for a short distance, the reverse is the case. When we begin 
to descend we find it cooler below than above, because the 
further we depart from the surface the more we are removed 
from the influence of the Sun. But at a certain point — in 
our climate at about fifty feet below the surface — the influ- 
ence of the Sun's heat ceases to be sensibly felt. When this 
limit is passed, the temperature begins to rise, and thence- 
forth the deeper we go the hotter the earth becomes. 

This broad and general fact has been tested by experi- 
ments in every part of the world, and has been found true 
in all countries, in all climates, in all latitudes, whether in 
coal-pits, or mines, or deep subterranean caves. ' * In one 
and the same mine," says Sir John Herschel,* ''each par- 
ticular depth has its own particular degree of heat, which 
never varies : but the lower always the hotter ; and that not 
by a trifling, but what may well be called an astonishingly 
rapid rate of increase, — about a degree of the thermometer 
additional warmth for every ninety feet of additional depth, f 
which is about 58° per mile ! — so that, if we had a shaft 
sunk a mile deep, we should find in the rock a heat of 
105°, which is much hotter than the hottest summer day 
ever experienced in England." Now if the temperature 

* Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects : London, 1867 j pp. 9, 10. 

■j- It would be more strictly correct to say that the rate of increase varies 
considerably in different places, though the main fact is everywhere palpa- 
bly apparent that the deeper we descend into the Earth the higher the tem- 
perature becomes. Sir Charles Lyell records a number of careful experi- 
ments made in England, France, Germany, and Italy, which seem to show, 
that an increase of one degree Fahrenheit for every sixty-five feet of descen: 
would represent pretty correctly the general average. See his Principles of 
Geology, vol. ii., pp. 205, 206. 



Hot springs and Artesian Wells, 237 

continue to increase at this rate toward the centre of the 
Earth, it is quite certain that, at no very great distance from 
the surface, the heat would be sufficiently intense to reduce 
the hardest granite and the most refractory metals to a state 
of igneous fusion. 

Again, every one is familiar with the existence of hot 
springs, which come up from unknown depths in the 
Earth's Crust, and which, appearing as they do in almost 
all parts of the world, testify in unmistakable language to 
the existence of internal heat. At Bath, for instance, in 
England, the water comes up from the bowels of the Earth, 
at a temperature of 117° Fahrenheit; and in the United 
States, on the Arkansas River, there is a spring at 180° — 
not much below the boiling point. This remarkable phe- 
nomenon, however, may be more closely investigated in the 
case of Artesian Wells, so called from the province of Artois, 
in France, where they first came into use. These wells are 
formed artificially, by boring down through the superficial 
strata of. the Earth, sometimes to enormous depths, until 
water is reached. It has been found in every case that the 
water coming up from these great depths is always hot ; and, 
furthermore, that the deeper the boring the hotter the water. 
A well of this kind was sunk in 1834 at Crenelle, in the 
suburbs of Paris, to a depth of more than 1800 English 
feet, and the water, which rushed up with surprising force, 
had a temperature of 82° Fahrenheit; whereas the mean 
temperature of the air in the cellars of the Paris Observatory 
is only 53°. The water has ever since continued to flow, 
and the temperature has never varied. At Salzwerth, in 
Germany, where the boring is still deeper, being 2,144 feet, 
the water which rises to the surface is 91° of our scale. 

Then we have, in many countries, jets of steam which 
issue at a high temperature from crevices in the Earth, and 
which tell of the existence of heated water below, as plainly 
as the steam that escapes from the funnel of a locomotive or 



238 Geysers of Iceland. 

from the spout of a tea-kettle. Phenomena of this kind are 
very common in Italy, where they are sometimes exhibited 
at intervals along a line of country twenty miles in length. 
But in Iceland it is that they are displayed in the highest 
degree of splendor 'and power. On the southwest side of 
that island, within a circuit of two miles, there are nearly a 
hundred hot springs called Geysers, from some of which, 
at intervals, immense volumes of steam and boiling water 
are violently projected into the air. The Great Geyser is a 
natural tube, ten feet wide, descending into the Earth to a 
depth of seventy feet, and opening out above into a broad 
basin, from fifty to sixty feet in diameter. This basin, as 
well as the tube which connects it with the interior of the 
Earth, is lined with a beautifully smooth and hard plaster 
of siliceous cement, and is generally filled to the brim with 
water of a clear azure color, and a temperature little below 
boiling point. The ordinary condition of the spring is one 
of comparative repose, the water rising slowly in the tube 
and trickling over the edge of the stony basin. But every 
few hours an eruption takes place. Subterranean explosions 
are first heard, like the firing of distant cannon ; then a vio- 
lent ebullition follows, clouds of steam are given out, and 
jets of boiling water are cast up into the air. After a little 
the disturbance ceases, and all is quiet again. Once a day, 
or thereabouts, these phenomena are exhibited on a scale 
of extraordinary grandeur : the explosions which announce 
beforehand the approaching display are more numerous and 
violent than usual ; then such volumes of steam rush forth 
as to obscure the atmosphere for half a mile around ; and, 
finally, a vast column of water is projected to a height of 
from one to two hundred feet,' and continues for a quarter 
of an hour to play like an artificial fountain. Geysers 
scarcely less grand and striking are to be seen in New Zea- 
land, from which the water is thrown up at a temperature 
214° Fahrenheit, or two degrees above boiling point. 



A Glimpse at the Subterra7iean Fires. 239 

Such are the evident symptoms of subterranean heat, — 
hot springs, jets of steam, fountains of boiling water, — 
which are manifested unceasingly at the surface of the Earth 
in every quarter of the Globe. But it is sometimes given 
us to behold, as it were, the subterranean fire itself, and to 
contemplate its power under a more striking and awful 
form. From time to time, in the fury of its rage, the fiery 
element bursts asunder the prison-house in which it is con- 
fined, and rushes forth into the light of day ; then flames 
are seen to issue from the surface of the Earth, yawning 
chasms begin to appear on every side, the roaring of the 
furnaces is heard in the depths below, clouds of red-hot 
cinders are ejected high into the air, and streams of in- 
candescent liquid rock are poured forth from every crev- 
ice, which, rolling far away through smiling fields and 
peaceful villages, carry destruction and desolation in their 
track. These are the ordinary phenomena of an active 
volcano during the period of eruption ; and even while we 
write, most of them may be witnessed actually taking place 
for the hundredth time, on the historic ground of Mount 
Vesuvius. Our typical example, however, we shall take 
from the eruption of that mountain in the year 1779. It 
was not, indeed, especially remarkable for its violence or 
for the catastrophes by which it was attended ; but it had 
the good fortune to be accurately recorded by an eye- 
witness. Sir William Hamilton, who, at that time, repre- 
sented the English Government at the Court of Naples ; 
and we are thus more minutely acquainted with all its 
various circumstances than with those of any other eruption 
of equal importance. 

For two years before, the mountain had been in a state 
of excitement and disturbance. From time to time rum- 
bling noises were heard underground, dense masses of 
smoke were emitted from the crater, liquid lava at a white 
heat bubbled up from crevices on the slopes of the moun- 



240 Eruptio7i of Mount Ves7ivius. 

tain, and through these crevices a glimpse could be had 
here and there of the rocky caverns within, all *' red-hot 
like a heated oven." But in the month of August, 1779, 
the eruption reached its climax. About nine o'clock in 
the evening of Sunday the eighth, according to the graphic 
description of Sir William Hamilton, "there was a loud 
report, which shook the houses at Portici and its neighbor- 
hood to such a degree as to alarm the inhabitants and drive 
them out into the streets. Many windows were broken, and, 
as I have since seen, walls cracked, from the concussion of 
the air from that explosion. In one instant, a fountain of 
liquid transparent fire began to rise, and, gradually increas- 
ing, arrived at so amazing a height, as to strike every one 
who beheld it with the most awful astonishment. I shall 
scarcely be credited when I assure you that, to the best of 
my judgment, the height of this stupendous column of fire 
could not be less than three times that of Vesuvius itself, 
which, you know, rises perpendicularly near 3,700 feet 
above the level of the sea. Puff's of smoke, as black as 
can possibly be imagined, succeeded one another hastily, 
and accompanied the red-hot, transparent, and liquid lava, 
interrupting its splendid brightness here and there by 
patches of the darkest hue. Within these puffs of smoke, 
at the very moment of their emission from the crater, I 
could perceive a bright but pale electrical light playing 
about in zigzag lines. The liquid lava, mixed with scoriae 
and stones, after having mounted, I verily believe, at least 
10,000 feet, falling perpendicularly on Vesuvius, covered its 
whole cone, and part of that of Somma, and the valley be- 
tween them. The falling matter being nearly as vivid and 
inflamed as that which was continually issuing fresh from 
the crater, formed with it a complete body of fire, which 
could not be less than two miles and a half in breadth, and 
of the extraordinary height above mentioned, casting a 
heat to the distance of at least six miles around it. The 



Volcanic Cham of the Andes. 241 

brushwood of the mountain of Somma was soon in a flame, 
which, being of a different tint from the deep red of the 
matter thrown out from the Volcano, and. from the silvery 
blue of the electrical fire, still added to the contrast of this 
most extraordinary scene. After the column of fire con- 
tinued in full force for nearly half an hour the eruption 
ceased at once, and Vesuvius remained sullen and silent. " * 
The existence, then, of intense heat within the Crust of 
the Earth may be regarded as an established fact where- 
ever an active Volcano appears at the surface. Now let us 
consider for a moment, the very extensive scale on which 
these fiery engines of Nature are distributed over the face of 
the Globe. First, on the great continent of America. 
The whole chain of the Andes — that stupendous ridge of 
mountains which stretches along the western coast of South 
America, from Tierra del Fuego on the south to the isth- 
mus of Panama on the north — is studded over with Vol- 
canos, most of which have been seen in active eruption 
within the last 300 years. Passing the narrow isthmus of 
Panama, this line of Volcanos may still be traced through 
Guatemala to Mexico, and thence northward even as far as 
the mouth of the Columbia River. Here is a vast volcanic 
region extending fully 6,000 miles in length, and spread- 
ing out its fiery arms, we know not how far, to the right 
and to the left. At Quito, just on. the Equator, a branch 
shoots off toward the northeast, and, passing through New 
Granada and Venezuela, stretches away across the West 
India Islands, taking in St. Vincent, Dominica, Guada- 
loupe, and many others ; while, in the opposite direction, 
it is certain that the volcanic action extends westward, far 
away beneath the waters of the Pacific, though we have no 
definite means of ascertaining where its influence ceases to 
be felt. 

* See Sir John Herschel, Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects, 
pp. 26, 27. 

11 



242 Volcanic Chains of Europe and Asia. 

Another vast train of active Volcanos is that which skirts 
the eastern and southern coasts of Asia. Commencing on 
the shores of Northwestern America, it passes through the 
Aleutian Islands to Kamtschatka ; then, in a sort of undu- 
lating curve, it winds its course by the Kurile Islands, the 
Japanese group, the Philippines, and the northeastern ex- 
tremity of the Celebes, to the Moluccas. At this point it 
divides into two branches ; one going in a southeasterly 
direction to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Friendly 
Islands, and New Zealand; the other pursuing a north- 
westerly course through Java and Sumatra into the Bay of 
Bengal. 

There is a third great line of volcanic fires which has 
been pretty well traced out by modern travellers, extending 
through China and Tartary to the Caucasus ; thence over 
the countries bordering the Black Sea to the Grecian Archi- 
pelago; then on to Naples, Sicily, the Lipari Islands, the 
southern part of Spain and Portugal, and the Azores. , 
Besides these there are numerous groups of Volcanos not 
apparently linked on to any regular volcanic chain, nor 
reduced as yet by scientific men to any general system ; 
Mount Hecla, for instance, in Iceland, the Mountains of 
the Moon in Central Africa, Owhyhee in the Sandwich 
Islands, and many others rising up irregularly from the 
broad waters of the Pacific. 

From this brief outline some idea may be formed of the 
magnificent scale on which volcanic agency is developed 
within the Crust of the Earth. It must be remembered, 
however, that any estimate based upon the enumeration we 
have given, would be, in all probability, far below the 
truth ; for we have mentioned those Volcanos only which 
have attracted the notice of scientific men, or which have 
chanced to fall under the observation of travellers. ■ Many 
others, doubtless, must exist in regions not yet explored, 
and in the profound depths of the seas and oceans, which 



Extinct Volcano s, 243 

cover nearly two-thirds of the area of our planet. ]\I ore- 
over, we have said nothing at all of exiinci Volcanos — such 
as those of Auvergne in France, and of the Rocky Moun- 
tains in America — which have not been in active operation 
within historical times; but in which, nevertheless, the 
hardened streams of lava, the volcanic ashes, and the cone- 
shaped mountains terminating in hollow craters, tell the 
story of eruptions in bygone ages, not less clearly than the 
blackened walls and charred timbers of some stately build- 
ing bear witness to the passing wayfarer of a long extin- 
guished conflagation. 

We contend, therefore, that the doctrine of intense sub- 
terranean heat is not a wild conjecture, but is based on a 
solid groundwork of facts. First, there is presumptive 
evidence. In every deep mine, in every deep sinking of 
whatever kind, the heat of the earth increases rapidly as we 
descend. Hot water comes from great depths, ana never 
cold. Sometimes it is boiling ; sometimes it has been con- 
verted into steam. All this is found to be the case univer- 
sally, whenever an opportunity has occurred for making 
the trial ; and it seems to afford a strong presumption that 
if one could go still deeper, the heat would be found yet 
more intense, and would at length be capable of reducing 
to a liquid state the solid materials of which the earth is 
composed. Next, there is the direct testimony of our senses. 
A channel is opened from the depths below, flames are 
seen, red-hot cinders are cast up, and molten rock is 
poured out over the surface of the Earth in a liquid stream 
of fire. This evidence, however, though direct and con 
elusive as far as it goes, is not universal. It proves that an 
intense white heat prevails within the Crust of the Earth, 
not everywhere, but at least in those numerous and exten- 
sive regions where active Volcanos exist. So stands the 
case, as it seems to us, for the doctrine of subterranean heat 
as far as regards the fact of its existance. 



^^^^3^M^^^^[a^^ 



CHAPTER XV. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT — ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY VOLCANOS. 

Effects of subterranean heat in the present age of the world-^ 
Vast accumulations of solid matter froin the eruptions of 
volcands — Buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum — ■ 
Curious relics of Roman life — Monte Nuovo — Eruption of 
Jorullo in the province of Mexico — Sumbawa in the Indian 
Archipelago— ^Volcanos of Iceland — Mountain mass of Etna 
the product of volcanic eruptions — Volcanic islatids — In the 
Atlantic — In the Mediterranean — Santorin in the Grecain 
Archipelago. 




AVING now sufficiently demonstrated the existence 
of intense subterranean heat, diffused, if not uni- 
versally, at least very generally, beneath the. super- 
ficial shell of the Earth, we shall next proceed to inquire 
if it is capable of effecting those physical changes which 
are ascribed to it in Geology ; — of producing land where 
none before existed, of upheaving the solid Crust of the 
Earth, of driving the ocean from its bed, of dislocating 
and contorting solid masses of rock. The argument is still 
an appeal to facts. Such effects as these have been pro- 
duced by the agency of internal heat, undej actual observa- 
tion, in the present age of the world ; and it is not unrea- 
sonable to attribute to the same cause similar phenomena 
in ages gone by. 

We will not run the risk of dissipating the force of this 
reasoning by attempting to expand it. It will be enough 



Herctdaneum and Pompeii, 245 

for us to state the facts : we shall leave it to our readers to 
estimate for themselves the value of the argument. There 
are three forms, more or less distinct, though closely asso- 
ciated, under which the subterranean fires have exerted 
their power in modern times to disturb and modify 
the Physical Geography of the Globe; — (i) the Volcano, 
(2) the Earthquake, (3) the gentle Undulation of the 
Earth's Crust. Of these we shall speak in order. 

In the case of Volcanos, as we have already sufficiently 
conveyed, the hidden furnaces of the Earth find a vent for 
their surplus energies ; and when this vent is once estab- 
lished, that is to say, when the active Volcano has be- 
gun to exist, it seems probable that there is little further 
upheaval, properly so called, of the surface. Nevertheless, 
Volcanos contribute largely to the formation of land by the 
vast accumulation of ashes, mud, and lava, which they 
vomit forth. The destruction of Herculaneum and Pom- 
peii is a case in point. For eight days successively, in the 
year 79, the ashes and pumice stone cast up from the cra- 
ter of Vesuvius, fell down in one unceasing shower upon 
these devoted cities ; while at the same time floods of water, 
carrying along the fine dust and light cinders, swept down 
the sides of the mountain in resistless torrents of mud, enter- 
ing the houses, penetrating into every nook and crevice, and 
filling even the very wine jars in the underground cellars. 

At the present moment the layers of volcanic matter 
beneath which Pompeii has been slumbering for centuries, 
are from twelve to fourteen feet over the tops of the houses. 
Loftier still is the pile that overlies the buried Hercula- 
neum. This city, situated nearer to the base of the Vol- 
cano, has been exposed to the effects of many successive 
eruptions ; and accordingly, spread out over the mass of 
ashes and pumice by which it was first overwhelmed, in the 
time of Pliny, we now find alternate layers of lava and vol- 
canic mud, together with fresh accumulations of ashes, to 



246 Herculaneum and Pompeii, 

a height, in many places, of 112 feet, and nowhere less 
than 70. Nor was this ejected matter confined to these 
two populous towns. It was scattered far and wide over 
the country around, and has contributed in no small degree 
to that extraordinary richness and fertility for which the 
soil of Naples is so justly famed. 

As regards the production of land where none before 
existed, here is one fact of singular significance. At 
the time of the eruption, in 79, Pompeii was a seaport 
town to which merchantmen were wont to resort, and a 
flight of steps, which still remains, led down to the water's 
edge : it is now more than a mile distant from the coast, 
and the tract of land which intervenes is composed en- 
tirely of volcanic tuff and ashes. 

Gladly would we linger over the reminiscences of these 
luxurious and ill-fated cities. By the removal of the ashes, 
Pompeii is now laid open to view for at least one-third of its 
extent ; and a strange sight it is, this ancient Roman city 
thus risen as it were from the grave, — risen, but yet lifeless, 
— with its silent streets, and its tenandess houses, and its 
empty Forum. Wherever we turn we have before us a 
curious and interesting picture, ghastly though it is, of the 
social, political, and domestic life of those ancient times, 
of the glory and the shame that hung around the last days 
of Pagan Rome ; — in the theatres and the temples, in the 
shops and the private houses, in the graceful frescoes, in the 
elaborate mosaics, and, not least, in the idle scribblings 
on the walls, which, with a sort of whimsical reverence, 
have been spared by the destroying hand of Time. Then 
again, what a host of singular, relics are there to be won- 
dered at :— articles of domestic use and luxury, kitchen 
utensils and surgical instruments ; female skeletons with 
the ornaments and vanities of the world, rings and bracelets 
and necklaces, still clinging to their, charred remains ; and 
strangest perhaps of all, eighty-four loaves of bread, which 



A new Mountain suddenly thrown up. 247 

were put into the oven to bake 1800 years ago, and were 
taken out only yesterday, with the baker's brand upon them, 
and the stamp of the baker's elbow still freshly preserved in 
the centre of each. No subject could be more tempting to 
a writer, none more attractive to a reader. But our pres- 
ent purpose is to show the effects of Volcanos in elevating 
the level of the land; and so we must turn our back on 
the buried cities, and crossing the Bay of Naples, seek for 
a new illustration in the formation of Monte Nuovo, a lofty 
hill overlooking the ancient town of Pozzuoli. 

About one o'clock at night, on Sunday, the twenty-ninth 
of September, 1538, flames were seen to issue from the 
ground close to the waters of the beautiful bay of Baiae-. 
After a little, a sound like thunder was heard, the earth was 
rent asunder, and through the rent large stones, red-hot 
cinders, volcanic mud, and volumes of water, were furiously 
vomited forth, which covered the whole country around, 
reaching even as far as Naples, and disfiguring its palaces 
and public buildings. The next morning it was found that 
a new mountain had been formed by the accumulation of 
ejected matter around the central opening. This moun- 
tain remains to the present day, and is called the Monte 
Nuovo. In form it is a regular volcanic cone, four hun- 
dred and forty feet high, and a mile and a half in circum- 
ference at its base, with an open crater in the centre, which 
descends nearly to the level of the sea. An eye-witness 
who has left us a minute account of this eruption, relates 
that on the third day he went up with many people to the 
top of the new hill, and looking down into the crater, saw 
the stones that had fallen to the bottom, "boiling up just 
as a caldron of water boils on the fire." The same writer 
informs us — and it is very much to our present purpose to 
note the fact — that immediately before the eruption began, 
the relative position of land and sea was materially changed, 
the coast was sensibly upraised, the waters retired about 



248 Vole a n ic Eruption in Mex ico. 

two hundred paces, and multitudes of fish were raised high 
and dry upon the sand, a prey to the inhabitants of Poz- 
zuoli.* 

The Monte Nuovo is but a type of its class. If we 
travel westward 8,000 miles from Naples to the more stu- 
pendous Volcanos of the New World, we may witness the 
same phenomena on a still grander scale. In the prov- 
ince of Mexico, there is an elevated and extensive plain 
called Malpais, where for many generations the cotton 
plant, the indigo, and the sugar-cane, flourished luxuri- 
antly in a soil richly endowed with natural gifts, and care- 
fully cultivated by its industrious inhabitants. Everything 
was going on as usual in this smiling and prosperous re- 
gion, and no one dreamed of danger, when suddenly, in 
the month of June, 1759, subterranean sounds were heard, 
attended with slight convulsions of the earth. These symp- 
toms of internal commotion continued until the month of 
September, when they gradually died away, and tranquillity 
seemed to be restored. But it was only the delusive lull that 
precedes the fury of the storm. On the night of the twenty- 
eighth of September the rumbling sounds were heard again 
more violent than before. The inhabitants fled in conster- 
nation to a neighboring mountain, from the summit of which 
they looked back with wonder and dismay upon the utter 
annihilation of their homesteads and their farms. Flames 
broke out over an area half a square league in extent, the 
earth was burst open in many places, fragments of burning 
rock were thrown to prodigious heights in the air, torrents 
of boiling mud flowed over the plain, and thousands of 
little conical hills, called by the natives Hornitos or Ovens, 

* See the elaborate work of Sir William Hamilton, entitled Campi 
Phlegraei, in which he gives a full account of the formation of Monte 
Nuovo, accompanied with colored plates. He has preserved two inter- 
esting narratives of the eruption written at the time by eye-witnesses. See 
also Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i., pp. 606-616. 



Eruptio7i in the Island of Btcmbawa, 249 

rose up from the surface of the land. Finally a vast chasm 
was opened, and such quantities of ashes and fragmentary 
lava were ejected as to raise up six great mountain masses, 
which continued to increase during the five months that 
the eruption lasted. The least of these is 300 feet high, and 
the central one, now called Jorullo, which is still burning, 
is 1600 feet above the level of the plain. When Baron 
Humboldt visited this region just forty years after the erup- 
tion had ceased, the ground was still intensely hot, and **the 
Hornitos were pouring forth columns of steam twenty or 
thirty feet high, with a rumbling noise like that of a steam 
boiler. " * Since that time, however, the face of the coun- 
try has become once more smiling and prosperous ; the 
slopes of the newly-formed hills are now clothed with vege- 
tation, and the sugar-cane and the indigo again flourish 
luxuriandy in the fertile plains below. 

On the opposite side of the Globe, 10,000 miles from 
Mexico, we have had, almost in our own time, an exhibi- 
tion of volcanic phenomena not less wonderful than those 
we have been describing. The island of Sumbawa lies 
about two hundred miles to the east of Java in the Indian 
Archipelago ; and it belongs to that remarkable chain of 
Volcanos which we have already described as stretching, 
with litde interruption, along the coast of Asia from Russian 
America to the Bay of Bengal. In the year 181 5, this 
island was the scene of a calamitous eruption, the effects 
of which were felt over the whole of the Molucca Islands 
and Java, as well as over a considerable portion of Celebes, 
Sumatra, and Borneo. Indeed, so extraordinary are the inci- 
dents of this eruption, that we might well hesitate to believe 
them if they had not been collected on the spot with more 
than ordinary diligence, and recorded with an almost scru- 

* Sir John Herschel, Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects, p. 34; 
see also Lyell, Principles of Geology, chap, xxvii. ; Mantell, Wonders 
of Geology, pp. 872-4. 

11* 



2 5o Sudden Subsidence of the Land. 

pulous care. Sir Stamford Raffles, who was at the time 
governor of Java, then a British possession, required all the 
residents in the various districts under his authority to send 
in a statement of the circumstances which occurred within 
their own knowledge ; and from the accounts he received 
in this way, combined with other evidence, chiefly obtained 
from eye-witnesses, he drew up the narrative to which we 
are mainly indebted for the following facts. 

The explosions which accompanied this eruption were 
heard in Sumatra, at a distance of 970 geographical miles; 
and in the opposite direction at Ternate, a distance of 720 
miles. In the neighborhood of the Volcano itself, im- 
mense tracts of land were covered with burning lava, towns 
and villages were overwhelmed, all kinds of vegetation com- 
pletely destroyed, and of 12,000 inhabitants in the province 
of Tomboro, only twenty-six survived. The ashes, which 
were ejected in great quantities, were carried like a vast 
cloud through the air, by the southeast monsoon, for 300 
miles in the direction of Java ; and, still farther to the west, 
we are told that they formed a floating mass in the ocean 
two feet thick and several miles in extent, through which 
ships with difficulty forced their way. It is recorded, too, 
that they fell so thick on the island of Tombock, 100 miles 
away, as to cover all the land two feet deep, destroying 
every particle of vegetation, insomuch that 44,000 people 
perished of the famine that ensued. "I have seen it com- 
puted," writes Sir John Herschel, "that the quantity of 
ashes and lava vomited forth in this awful eruption would 
have formed three mountains the size of Mont Blanc, the 
highest of the Alps; and if spread over the surface of Ger- 
many, would have covered the whole of it two feet deep." 
Finally, it appears that this eruption was accompanied, like 
that of IMonte Nuovo, by a permanent change in the level 
of the adjoining coast; in this .case, however, it was a 
movement, not of upheaval, but of subsidence : the town 



Volca nos of Icela nd. 2 5 1 

of Tomboro sunk beneath the ocean, which is now eight- 
een feet deep where there was dry land before.* 

Once more \ve will ask our readers to take a rapid flight 
over the map of the world, passing, this time, from the In- 
dian Archipelago to the island of Iceland, — that "wonder- 
ful land of frost and fire." Besides the famous Volcano of 
Hecla, there are five others scarcely less formidable, all of 
which have been in active eruption within modern times. 
Of these the most celebrated is that of Skaptar Jokul. In 
the year 1783, this Volcano poured forth two streams of lava, 
which, when hardened, formed together one continuous 
layer of igneous rock, ninety miles in length, a hundred 
feet in height, and from seven to fifteen miles in breadth. 
The phenomena which accompanied the eruption are 
thus vividly described by Sir John Herschel : — ' ' On the tenth 
of May innumerable fountains of fire were seen shooting 
up through the ice and snow which covered the mountain ; 
and the principal river, called the Skapta, after rolling 
down a flood of foul and poisonous water, disappeared. 
Two days after, a torrent of lava poured down into the bed 
which the river had deserted. The river had run in a 
ravine 600 feet deep and 200 broad. This the lava entirely 
filled ; and not only so, but it overflowed the surrounding 
country, and ran into a great lake, from which it instantly 
expelled the water in an explosion of steam. When the 
lake was fairly filled, the lava again overflowed and divided 
into two streams, one of which covered some ancient lava 
fields; the other re-entered the bed of the Skapta lower 
down, and presented the astounding sight of a cataract of 
liquid fire pouring over what was formerly the waterfall of 
Stapafoss. This was the greatest eruption on record in 
Europe. It lasted in its violence till the end of August, 
and closed with a violent earthquake ; but for nearly the 

* See Herschel, Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects, pp. 34-6, 
I.yell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii., pp. 104-6. 



2 52 Mount Etna, 

whole year a canopy of cinder-laden cloud hung over the 
island : the Faroe Islands, nay, even Shetland and the 
Orkneys, were deluged with ashes ; and volcanic dust and 
a preternatural smoke which obscured the sun, covered all 
Europe as far as the Alps, over which it could not rise. 
The destruction of life in Iceland was frightful : 9,000 men, 
11,000 cattle, 28,000 horses, and 190,000 sheep perished ; 
mostly by suffocation. The lava ejected has been com- 
puted to amount in volume to more than twenty cubic 
miles."* 

With these very significant facts before us, it is hard to 
resist the conclusion that the great mountain mass of Etna, 
11,000 feet high and ninety miles in circumference, is 
formed entirely of volcanic matter ejected during successive 
eruptions. For the whole mountain is nothing else than 
a series of concentric conical layers of ashes and lava, such 
as have been poured out more than once upon its existing 
surface in modern times. Just, then, as Monte Nuovo 
was produced by an outburst of volcanic power in a single 
night, and the far larger mountain of Jorullo in the course of 
a few months, so may we believe that the more stupendous 
Etna is the work of the same power operating through a 
period of many centuries. And applying this conclusion 
to many other mountains throughout the world of exactly 
the same structure, we come to form no very mean estimate 
of the permanent changes wrought on the physical geogra- 
phy of our Globe by the operations of volcanic agency. 

We must remember, too, that volcanic eruptions are not 
confined to the land ; they often break out in the bed of the 
sea. In such cases the waters are observed in a state of 
violent commotion, jets of steam and sulphurous vapor are 
emitted, light scoriaceous matter appears floating on the 
surface, and not unfrequently the volcanic cone itself 
slowly rises from the depths below, and continues to 

* Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects, pp. 31, 32, 



Volcanic Islands, 253 

grow from day to day, until at length if becomes an island 
of no inconsiderable magnitude. Sometimes when the 
violence of the eruption has subsided, the new island, con- 
sisting chiefly of ashes and pumice-stone, is gradually 
washed away by the action of the waves ; but in the other 
cases, these lighter substances are compacted together by 
the injection of liquid lava, and being thus able to with- 
stand the erosive power of the ocean, assume the impor- 
tance of permanent volcanic islands. Many examples of 
the former kind are recorded within the last hundred years. 
In 1783 an island was thrown up in the North Atlantic 
Ocean, about thirty miles to the southwest of Iceland. It 
was claimed by the King of Denmark, and called by him 
Nyoe or New Island ; but before a year had elapsed, this 
portion of his Majesty's dominion disappeared again be- 
neath the waves, and the sea resumed its ancient domain. 
A cone-shaped island of the same kind, called Sabrina, 
three hundred feet high, with a crater in the centre, ap- 
peared amongst the Azores in 181 1, but was quickly 
washed away again. 

A more interesting example, because the circumstances 
are more minutely recorded, is the island which made its 
appearance in the Mediterranean, off the southwest coast of 
Sicily, in the year 1831. During its brief existence of three 
months, it received from contemporary writers seven differ- 
ent names ; but the name of Graham Island seems to be 
the one by which it is most likely to be known to posterity. 
"About the tenth of July," writes Sir Charles Lyell, "John 
Corrao, the captain of a Sicilian vessel, reported that, as he 
passed near the place, he saw a column of water like a 
waterspout, sixty feet high, and eight hundred yards in cir- 
cumference, rising from the sea,, and soon afterward a 
dense steam in its place, which ascended to the height of 
1 800 feet. The sam.e Corrao, on his return from Girgenti, 
on the eighteenth of July, found a small island, twelve feet 



2 54 History of Graham Island, 

high, with a crater in the centre, ejecting volcanic mattei 
and immense columns of vapor; the sea around being 
covered with floating cinders and dead fish. The scoriae 
were of a chocolate color, and the water, which boiled in 
the circular basin, was of a dingy red. The eruption con- 
tinued with great violence to the end of the same month, 
at which time the island was visited by several persons, and 
amongst others by Captain Swinburne, R. N., and M. Hoff- 
man, the Prussian Geologist."* By the fourth of August 
the new island is said to have attained a height of 200 feet, 
and to have been three miles in circumference. Yet this 
was nothing more than the top of the volcanic cone ; for, a 
few years before. Captain W. H. Smyth, in his survey, had 
found a depth of 600 feet at this very spot ; and therefore 
the total height from the base of the mountain must have 
been 800 feet. From the beginning of August it began to 
melt away ; and at the commencement of the following 
year, nothing remained of Graham Island but a dangerous 
shoal. 

But even of the islands that occupy a prominent place 
on the map of the world, there is not wanting evidence to 
show that a large number derive their origin from the 
action of volcanic power. Among these may be mentioned 
many of the Molucca and Philippine groups, also several 
in the Grecian Archipelago, and not a few of the Azores 
and the Canaries, — in particular the lofty peak of Teneriffe, 
rising 12,000 feet above the level of the sea. In some 
cases, indeed, the actual process of their birth, and of their 
subsequent growth and development, has been minutely 
observed. A remarkable example occurs among the Aleu- 
tian Islands already referred to. In the year 1796 a column 
of smoke was seen to issue from the sea ; then a small 
black point appeared at the surface of the water ; then 
flames broke out, and other yolcanic phenomena were ex- 

* Principles of Geology, vol. ii., pp. 59, 60. 



Island of Sa7itori7i. 



255 



hibited ; then the small black point grew into an island, 
and the island increased in size until it was at last several 
thousand feet high, and two or three miles in circumfer- 
ence. And such it remains to the present day. 

The neighborhood of Santorin in the Grecian Archi- 
pelago has been noted from very remote times as the 
theatre of submarine eruptions. This island, which is 
itself to all appearance the crater of a vast volcano, has the 
form of a crescent, and, with the aid of two smaller islands 



-?M^'^ 




Fig. 28 . Bird's-eye view of Santorin during the volcanic eruption 
of February, i866. (Lyell.) 

a. Therasia. f. Little Kaimeni. 

b. The northern entrance, 1068 feet deep. g. Nev*^ Kaimeni. 

c. Thera. h. Old Kaimeni. 

d. Mount St. Elias, rising 1887 feet above /. Aphroessa. 

the sea. • k. George. 

t. Aspronisi. 



which Stretch across between the horns of the crescent, en- 
closes an almost circular bay. We learn from Pliny that 
in the year i86 before Christ, within this bay an island rose 



2 56 Recent Eruption of Santorin. 

up which was called Hiera or the Sacred island. It was 
twice enlarged during the Christian era, once in 726, and 
again in 1427, and still exists under the name of Palaia 
Kaimeni, that is to say, the Old Burnt Island. In 1573 a 
second island made its appearance, and received the name 
of the Little Burnt Island, Mikra Kaimeni. In 1707 and 
1709, a third island was thrown up, and was distinguished 
from the other two as Nea Kaimeni, the New Burnt Island. 
Lastly, in 1866 the hidden volcanic power again became 
active, and two new vents were formed, called respectively 
Aphroessa and George. "At the end of January," writes 
Sir Charles Lyell, "the sea had been observed in a state of 
ebullition off the southwest coast, and part of the Channel 
between New and Old Kaimeni, marked seventy fathoms 
in the Admiralty chart, had become, on February the 
eleventh, only twelve fathoms deep. According to M. 
Julius Schmidt, a gradual rising of the bottom went on 
until a small island made its appearance called afterward 
Aphroessa. It seems to have consisted of lava pressed up- 
ward and outward almost imperceptibly by steam, which 
was escaping at every pore through the hissing scoriaceous 
crust. * It could be seen,' says Commander Lindesay Brine, 
R.N., 'through the fissures in the cone that the rocks 
within were red hot, but it was not till later that an erup- 
tion began.' On February the eleventh the village of Vul- 
cano on the southeast coast, where there had been a par- 
tial sinking of the ground, was in great part overwhelmed 
by the materials cast out from a new vent which opened in 
that neighborhood, and to which the name of George was 
given, which finally, according to Schmidt, became about 
two hundred feet high. 

"Commander Brine having ascended on February the 
twenty-eighth, 1866, to the top of the crater of Nea Kai- 
meni, about three hundred and fifty feet high, looked down 
upon the new vent then in full activity. The whole of the 



Account by an Eye-witness, 25 y 

cone was swaying with an undulating mo'don to the right 
and left, and appeared sometimes to swell to nearly double 
its size and height, to throw out ridges like mountain spurs, 
till at last a broad chasm appeared across the top of the 
cone, accompanied by a tremendous roar of steam and the 
shooting up from the new crater, to the height of from 
fifty to a hundred feet, of tons of rock and ash mixed with 
smoke and steam. Some of these which fell on Mikra 
Kaimeni, at a distance of six hundred yards from the 
crater, measured thirty cubic feet. This effort over, the 
ridges slowly subsided, the cone lowered and closed in, and 
then, after a few minutes of comparative silence, the strug- 
gle would b€gin again with precisely similar sounds, action, 
and result. Threads of vapor escaping from the old crater 
of Nea Kaimeni proved that there was a subterranean con- 
nection between the new and the old vents. Aphroessa, 
of which the cone was at length raised to a height of more 
than sixty feet, was united in August with the main island. 
This was due in part at least to the upheaval of the bottom 
of the sea, which is now only seven fathoms deep in the 
channel dividing the New and Old Kaimenis, whereas 
in the Admiralty chart the soundings gave a hundred 
fathoms. " * 

* Principles of Geology, vol. ii. pp. 69, 70. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY 

EARTHQUAKES. 

Earthquakes and volcanos proceed from the same common 
cause — Recent earthquakes in New Zealand — Vast tracts of 
lajid permane7itly upraised — Earthquakes of Chili in the 
present century — Crust of the Earth elevated — Earthquake 
of Cute h in hidia, 1819 — Reinarkable instajice of subsidence 
and tipheaval — Earthquake of Calabria, 1783 — Earthquake 
of Lisbon, 1755 — Great destruction of life and property — 
Earthquake of Peru, August, 1868 — Gefieral scene of 7'uin 
and devastation — Great sea wave — A ship with all her 
crew carried a quarter of a niile iiiland — Frequency of 
earthquakes. 

|HE chief effect of volcanic eruptions on the Geo- 
logical Structure of our Globe consists in the 
accumulation of cinders and molten rock, either 
upon the Surface of the Earth, or in the crevices and cav- 
erns that abound within its solid Crust. Sometimes, indeed, 
the operations of an active Volcano are accompanied by a 
movement of upheaval or of subsidence. Thus for instance, 
we have seen that a portion of the Italian coast was elevated 
when Monte Nuovo was thrown up, that the town of Tom- 
boro was submerged on the occasion of the eruption of 
Sumbawa, and that the bottom of the sea was notably up- 
heaved by the last outbreak of the volcanic fires of Santorin. 
Nevertheless it appears to be generally the case that when 
the Crust of the Earth is once burst open, and a means of 




Earthquakes, how caused, 259 

escape thus afforded to the fiery agent below, — in other 
words, when the active volcano is established, — the pro>- 
cess of upheaval gives place to that of eruption. But when, 
as is often the case, no such safety-valve is offered to the sur- 
plus energies of the subterranean fires, then the giant power 
of heat, in its struggle to escape, shakes the foundation of 
the hills, and uplifts the superincumbent mass of solid rocks. 

This theory which ascribes the phenomena of Earth- 
quakes and Volcanos to the same common cause, acting 
under different circumstances, is now almost universally 
adopted by Geologists ; and it may be briefly enforced by 
the following considerations. First, though Earthquakes 
have sometimes occurred far away from any known volcanic 
region, yet they are more frequent in the neighborhood of 
active or extinct Volcanos. Secondly, almost all volcanic 
eruptions are preceded by Earthquakes ; and the Earth- 
quakes generally cease, or, at least become less violent, 
when the subterranean fire breaks out in the form of a Vol- 
cano. And, Thirdly, it is plain that the condensed steam 
which is generated by internal heat, and the expansive 
power of the heat itself, must, of necessity, when pent up 
in the caverns of the Earth, tend to produce those very 
phenomena by which Earthquakes are distinguished. 

Let it be observed, however, that while we explain the 
phenomena in question by the agency of subterranean heat, 
this doctrine is by no means necessary for the main pur- 
pose of our present argument. Whatever may be the cause 
from which the Earthquake shock proceeds, it is enough 
for us to show that the Crust of the Earth has been from 
time to time upraised, and dislocated, and rent asunder in 
modern times, just as it is supposed in Geological theory, 
to have been upraised, and dislocated, and rent asunder 
from time to time in by-gone ages. We will set down a 
few out of the many examples observed and recorded during 
the last hundred and twenty years. 



2 6o Earthqttakes of New Zealand. 

Wiien the English colonists settled in New Zealand 
•about fifty years ago, they were told by the natives that they 
might expect a great Earthquake every seven years. This 
alarming prediction has not been literally fulfilled ; but it 
is fully admitted that the total number of such disturbances 
within the last half century has not fallen short of what it 
should have been according to the above estimate. During 
the years 1826 and 1827 several shocks were felt in the 
neighborhood of Cook Strait, after which it was observed 
that the sea-shore had been uplifted on the north side of 
Dusky Bay. So transformed was the outline of the coast 
that its former features could no longer be recognized ; and 
a small cove called the Jail, which had previously aflforded 
a commodious harbor to vessels, engaged in seal fishing, 
was completely dried up. 

But the most memorable convulsion took place on the 
night of January the twenty-third, 1855. A tract of land, 
about as large as Yorkshire, on the southwest coast of the 
North Island, was permanently upraised from one to nine 
feet. The harbor of Port Nicholson, together with the 
valley of the Hutt, was elevated four to five feet; and a 
sunken rock, regarded before as dangerous to navigators, 
has remained since the Earthquake three feet above the 
level of the water. The shock was felt by ships at sea a 
hundred and fifty miles from the coast ; and it is estimated 
that the whole area affected was not less than three times 
the extent of the British Islands. 

The whole coast of Chili has been subject to great dis- 
turbances and changes of level during the present century. 
In November, 1837, the town of Valdivia was destroyed by 
an Earthquake, and at the same moment, a whaling vessel, 
a short distance out at sea, was violently shaken, and lost 
her masts. The bottom of the sea was afterward found to 
have been raised in some places more than eight feet ; and 
several rocks appeared high above the water which had 



Earthquakes of Chili. 2 6 1 

previously been covered at all times by the sea. Two years 
before, in 1835, the town of Conception and several others 
were reduced to ruins by a like visitation. After the first 
great convulsion the Earth remained for many days in a 
state of commotion. More than three hundred lesser shocks 
were counted from the twentieth of February to the fourth 
of March. On this occasion, too, the bed of the sea was 
upheaved ; and the whole island of Santa Maria, seven 
miles in length, was lifted up from eight to ten feet above 
its former level. 

The Earthquake of 1822 was more violent, perhaps, and 
more striking in its effects, than either of those just men- 
tioned. On the nineteenth of November in that year a 
sudden convulsive shock was simultaneously felt over a 
space 1200 miles in length. At Valparaiso, and on either 
side for a considerable distance, the coast was permanently 
upheaved. When Mrs. Graham, who was then living on 
the spot, and who has left us an account of the Earthquake, 
went down to the shore on the following day, she "found 
the ancient bed of the sea laid bare and dry, with beds of 
oysters, mussels, and other shells adhering to the rocks on 
which they grew, the fish being all dead, and exhaling most 
offensive effluvia.^' Some idea may be formed of the 
gigantic power here in operation, when it is remembered 
that to uplift the coast of Chili, it was necessary to move 
the mighty chain of the Andes, and, amongst the rest, the 
colossal mass of Aconcagua, 24,000 feet in height. How 
far this process of upheaval extended out to sea, beneath 
the bed of the ocean, has not been accurately ascertained : 
but certain it is that, for a considerable distance, the sound- 
ings were found to be shallower than before, the Earthquake. 
It is roughly estimated that the Crust of the Earth was 
elevated over an extent of 100,000 square miles, or about 
half the area of France. 

On the western coast of India, near the mouth of the 



262 Earthquake of Cut ch irt India, 

river Indus, is the well-known district of Cutch. In the 
month cf June, 18 19, this extensive territory, not less than 
half the size of Ireland, was violently shaken by an Earth- 
quake, several hundred people were killed, and many towns 
and villages were laid in ruins. The shocks continued for 
some days, and ceased only when the outburst of a Vol- 
cano seemed to open a vent for the troubled spirit within. 
But what is particularly worthy of note is that when the 
Earthquake had passed away, a permanent change was 
found to have been effected in the level of the surrounding 
country. The town and fort of Sindree, situated on the 
eastern arm of the Indus, together with a tract of land 2,000 
square miles in extent, were submerged beneath the waters. 
The principal buildings, however, still remained standing, 
with their upper parts above the surface ; and many of the 
inhabitants, who had taken refuge in one of the towers 
attached to the fort, were saved in boats when the Earth- 
quake had ceased. On the other hand, within five miles 
and a half of this very spot, the level surface of the Earth 
was upheaved, so as to form a long elevated bank, fifty miles 
in length and sixteen in breadth, which has been called the 
Ullah Bund, or the Mound of God. Nine years after this 
event. Sir Alexander Burnes went out in a boat to the ruins 
of Sindree, and standing on the summit of the tower, which 
still rose two or three feet above the surface of the water, he 
could see nothing around him but a wide expanse of sea, 
save where a blue streak of land on the edge of the horizon 
marked the outline of the Ullah Bund. Here was a striking 
illustration, on a small scale, of those changes which Geol- 
ogists suppose to have been going on since the world first 
began ; the dry land had been converted into the bed of the 
sea, and the level plain had been elevated into a mountain 
ridge. 

Toward the close of the last century the province of Cala- 
bria, in Southern Italy, was the scene of an Earthquake 



Earthquake of Calabria, 263 

which offers a very apposite illustration of our present argu- 
ment. This celebrated convulsion is not, however, chiefly 
remarkable for its violence, or for its duration, or for the 
extent of the territory moved. In all these respects it has 
been surpassed by many Earthquakes, experienced in other 
countries, within the last hundred and fifty years. But the 
Calabrian Earthquake has an especial claim on our atten- 
tion, mainly from this unusual circumstance, that the region 
of disturbance was visiied, as Sir Charles Lyell tells us, 
*'both during and after the convulsions, by men possessing 
sufficient leisure, zeal, and scientific information, to enable 
them to collect and describe with accuracy such physical 
facts as throw light on geological questions. " 

The shocks w^re first felt in February-, 1783, and con- 
tinued for nearly four years. Over a very considerable area 
of country all the common landmarks were removed, large 
tracts of land were forced bodily down the slopes of moun- 
tains ; and vineyards, orchards, and cornfields were trans- 
ported from one site to another ; insomuch that disputes 
aftenvard arose as to who was the rightful owner of the 
property that had thus shifted its position. Two farms near 
Mileto, occupying an extent of country a mile long and 
half a mile broad, were actually removed for a mile dow^n 
the valley; and '*a thatched cottage, together with large 
olive and mulberry trees, most of which remained erect, 
was carried uninjured to this extraordinary distance." In 
other places the surface of the Earth heaved like the billows 
of a troubled sea ; many houses were lifted up above the 
common level, while others subsided below it. Again and 
again the solid Crust of the Earth was rent asunder, and 
chasms, gorges, ravines, of various depths, were suddenly 
produced, in less time than it takes to tell it. Sometimes 
when the strain was removed, the yawning gulf as quickly 
closed again, and then houses, catde, and men were swal- 
lowed up in the abyss, leaving not a trace behind. It has 



264 Fearful Destruction of Life, 

even been recorded^ — strange though it may seem — that 
when two shocks rapidly followed one another at the same 
spot, the people engulphed by the first, were again cast 
forth by the second, being literally disgorged alive from the 
jaws of death. About 40,000 persons perished in this 
dreadful visitation, the greater number being crushed to 
death beneath the ruins of the towns and villages, others 
swallowed up in the yawning fissures as they fled across the 
open country, and others again burned in the conflagra- 
tions which almost always followed the shocks of Earth- 
quake. 

Every one has heard of the famous Earthquake of Lisbon. 
It is chiefly memorable for the extreme suddenness of the 
shock, for the immense extent of the area affected, and for 
the amount of havoc and destruction done. On the morn- 
ing of the fatal day — it was the first of November, 1755 — 
the sun rose bright and cheerful over the devoted city, no 
symptom of impending danger was visible in the sky above 
or on the Earth below, and the gay-hearted people were 
pursuing their accustomed rounds of pleasure or business, 
when, suddenly, at twenty minutes before ten o'clock, a 
sound like thunder was heard underground, the Earth was 
violently shaken, and in another moment, the greater part 
of the city w-as lying in ruins. Within the brief space of 
six minutes, 60,000 people were crushed to death. The 
mountains in the vicinity of the town were cleft asunder. 
The waters of the sea first retired from the land, and then 
rolled back in a huge mountain-like wave fifty feet above 
the level of the highest tide. A new quay, built entirely of 
marble, had offered a temporary place of refuge to the 
terrified inhabitants as they 'fled from the tumbling ruins of 
the city. Three thousand people are said to have been 
collected upon it, when, all at once, it sunk beneath the 
waves, and not a fragment of the solid masonry, not a ves- 
tige of its living freight, was ever seen again. The bottom 



Great Earthquake of Lisbon, 2 65 

of the sea where the quay then stood is now a hundred 
fathoms deep. 

From Lisbon as a centre the shock of this Earthquake 
radiated over an area not less than four times the extent of 
Europe. Like a great wave it rolled northward, at the rate 
of twenty miles a minute, upheaving the Earth as it moved 
along, to the coasts of the Baltic Sea and the German 
Ocean. The waters of Loch Lomond, in Scotland, were 
violently disturbed from beneath, and at Kinsale, in Ire- 
land, the sea rushed impetuously into the harbor without a 
breath of wind, and mounting over the qua}', flooded the 
market-place. Eastward the convulsion was felt as far as 
the Alps, and westward it extended to the West India 
Islands, and even to the great lakes of Canada. On the 
north coast of Africa the disturbance was as violent as in 
Spain and Portugal ; and it is recorded that at a distance of 
eight leagues from Morocco, the earth opened and swal- 
lowed up a considerable town with its inhabitants, to the 
number of eight or ten thousand people. 

Even on the high seas the shock was felt no less dis- 
tinctly than on dry land. "Off St. Lucar," says Sir 
Charles Lyell, ''the captain of the ship Nancy felt his 
vessel so violently shaken, that he thought she had struck 
the ground, but, on heaving the lead, found a great depth 
of water. Captain Clark, from Denia, in latitude 36° 24' 
N., between nine and ten in the morning, had his ship 
shaken and strained as if she had struck upon a rock, so 
that the seams of the deck opened, and the compass was 
overturned in the binnacle. Another ship, forty leagues 
west of St. Vincent, experienced so violent a concussion, 
that the men were thrown a foot and a half perpendicularly 
up from the deck." It is worthy of note that this, the most 
destructive Earthquake recorded in history, was not at- 
tended with any volcanic eruption; which goes to confirm 
our theory that the active Volcano serves as a kind of 



266 Recent Ea rihquake of Peru, 

safety-valve for the escape of the struggling powers confined 
within the Crust of the Earth.* 

We must not bring our notice of Earthquakes to an end 
without at least some brief account of one which has 
startled the world even since we began to put together the 
materials of this Volume. On the Western Coast of South 
America there is a long, narrow strip of land, lying be- 
tween the lofiy crests of the Andes and the shores of the 
Pacific Ocean, which from the earliest times has been the 
familiar home of Earthquakes. Toward evening on the 
thirteenth of August, 1868, this fated region was the scene 
of a convulsion the most appalling and destructive that has 
been recorded wdthin the present century. The disturb- 
ance was felt in its extreme violence for a distance of 1 500 
miles along the coast ; from Ibarra one degree north of the 
Equator to Iquique more than twenty degrees south. In 
ten minutes from the first shock, 20,000 people perished, 
and a vast amount of property, roughly estimated at sixty 
millions sterling, was utterly destroyed. Many thriving 
towns — Iquique, Mexillones, Pisagua, Arica, Ylo, Chala, 
and others — were levelled to the ground. Even the very 
ruins were not spared. The sea rushed in when the 
Earthquake shock had ceased, and carried everything be- 
fore it in one universal wreck : so that in some cases not a 
vestige remained behind to tell the dismayed survivors 
where their homesteads once had stood. It might be 
fancied perhaps that the cities seated aloft in the security of 
the Eternal Hills were beyond the reach of the convulsion 
that shook the plain below. But no : Arequipa, far up on 

* For the account of these various Earthquakes we are mainly in- 
debted to the indefatigable industry of Sir Charles Lyell, who has col- 
lected the facts with great care partly from the descriptions of eye-witnesses, 
and partly from authentic documents written upon the spot. See his 
Principles of Geology, vol. ii., chap, xxviii., xxix., xxx. See also Mr. 
Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue j and the first of Sir John Herschel's 
Lectures on Familiar Subjects. 



A StriLggle for L ife. 267 

the slopes of the western Cordillera, and Pasco, the highest 
city in the world, situated on a level with the snowy summit 
of the Jungfrau, were shattered into fragments with the 
same violence as the cities of the coast. 

The various incidents recorded by the survivors are full 
of fearful interest. At Iquique, according to one account, 
about five o'clock in the evening of the thirteenth of August, 
a rumbling noise was heard, then the earth shook violently 
for some minutes, then the sea, with a great moan, retired 
from the shore, and rearing itself up into a tremendous 
wave, rushed back upon the land and swept away the town. 
"I saw," says one writer, /*the whole surface of the sea 
rise as if a mountain side, actually standing up. Another 
shock, accompanied with a fearful roar, now took place. 
I called to my companions to run for their lives on to the 
Pampa. Too late 1 With a horrid crash the sea was on 
us, and at one sweep — one terrible sweep — dashed what was 
Iquique on to the Pampa. I lost my companions, and in 
an instant was fighting with the dark water. The mighty 
wave surged and roared and leaped. The cries of human 
beings and animals were dreadful. A mass of wreck cov- 
ered me and kept me down, and I was fast drowning when 
the sea threw me on to a beam, but a nail piercing my 
coat, the timber rolled me again under, and I lost all 
sense. I suppose, as in all such cases, I must have strug- 
gled after sensation had left me, for when returning con- 
sciousness came I was grasping under one arm a large 
plank. Looking round, all was wreck and desolation. In 
a moment I was by a returning wave swept into the bay, 
and meeting a mass of broken timber, I was struck a fear- 
ful blow on the chin, and the broken end of the plank 
passed through my thigh. I knew no more until I found 
myself on the Pampa, and all dark around me. I was 
without trousers, coat, shoes, or hat. Trying to collect my- 
self, I thought of another wave, and crawled away to the 



2 68 Effects itpon Shipping in the Bay, 

mountain side, scooped a hole in the ground, and got in ; 
here, wet and shivering, I spent the night. My wound 
bled freely. In the morning I looked out and found 
Iquique gone, all but a few houses round the church." 

A good deal of shipping was lying in the bay of Arica. 
When the waters first receded the vessels were all carried 
out to sea, chains, cables, and anchors snapping asunder 
like packthread. A moment afterward they were borne 
back irresistibly by the returning wave, and dashed to 
pieces on the coast. One more fortunate than the rest, 
the Wateree, a vessel of war belonging to the United States 
Government, was caught up on the crest of the wave, and 
with the loss of only one man, was landed high and dry 
among the sand-hills a quarter of a mile from the shore. 

Before the Earthquake, Arequipa was a prosperous town 
of 30,000 inhabitants. It enjoyed a considerable trade, 
and, in importance as well as size, it was regarded as the 
third city of Peru, being inferior only to Lima and Cuzco. 
The houses were constructed with especial regard to secur- 
ity against the shock of Earthquakes. They were but one 
story high, built of solid stone, and massive to an extra- 
ordinary degree. But these precautions, though the fruit 
of long experience, were all of no avail. At Sunset on the 
fatal thirteenth of August the populous and thriving city of 
Arequipa was little better than a heap of ruins. ''Not a 
church is left standing," writes an eye-witness, "not a house 
habitable. The shock commenced at twenty minutes past 
five in the afternoon, and lasted six or seven minutes. The 
houses being solidly built and of one story, resisted for one 
minute, which gave the people time to rush into the mid- 
dle of the streets, so that the mortality,- although consider- 
able, is not so great as might have been expected. If the 
Earthquake had occurred at night, few indeed would have 
been left to tell the story. As it is, the prisoners in the 
public prison, and the sick in the hospital, have perished. 



Freque7icy of Earthquakes, 269 

The Earthquake commenced with an undulating move- 
ment, and as the shock culminated, no one could keep his 
feet : the houses rocked as a ship in the trough of the sea, 
and came crumbling down. The shrieks of the women, the 
crash of falling masonry, the upheaving of the earth, and 
the clouds of blinding dust, made up a scene that cannot 
be described. We had nineteen minor shocks the same 
night, and the earth still continues in motion. Nothing 
has as yet been done toward disinterring the dead ; but I do 
not think any are buried alive, as certain death must have 
been the fate of all those who were not able to get into the 
street. The earth has opened in all the plains around, 
and water has appeared in various places."* 

These are a few typical examples of the more violent 
convulsions by which the Crust of the Earth has been dis- 
turbed within little more than a century ; and they leave 
no doubt as to the kind of changes which may fairly be 
ascribed to similar agency in the past history of the Globe. 
Nor must it be supposed that, because our examples are 
few in number, the Earthquake is itself a rare and excep- 
tional event. On the contrary, the state of partial disturb- 
ance and convulsion would seem to be the natural and 
ordinary condition of our planet. From the interesting 
Catalogue drawn up by Mr. Mallet, it appears that, in our 
own times, the number of Earthquakes actually observed 
and recorded is, on an average, not less than from two to 
three every week. Now this catalogue cannot represent 
more than one-third of the Globe : for the disturbances 

* The following are the sources from which we have chiefly derived 
our information regarding the Peruvian Earthquake of 1868 : (i) a series 
of letters written upon the scene of the catastrophe, and published in 
The Times of September 26, 1868 ; amongst them is one from the British 
Vice-consul, and one from the agent of the Pacific Steam Navigation 
Company, who were both at the time residents of Arica : (2) a letter of 
Mr. Clements Markham in TJie Times of September 15, 1868 : (3) Cap- 
tain Powell's Report to the Admiralty, dated September 14, i868. 



270 Minor Vibrations of the Earth's Crtist, 

which take place in the profound depths of the ocean must 
for the most part escape observation, and many parts even 
of the inhabited Earth are still beyond the reach of scien- 
tific researches. It is, therefore, quite a reasonable specu- 
lation of Sir Charles Lyell, that "scarcely a day passes 
without one or more shocks being experienced in some 
part of the Globe." 

Moreover, in Mr. Mallet's Catalogue no account is taken 
of those minor vibrations or tremblings of the Earth's 
Crust, which are not attended by any striking or noteworthy 
event. And yet such phenomena, when often repeated, 
may produce a very important change of level, and are far 
more frequent than most persons would be likely to sup- 
pose. In our quiet region of the Globe people are too apt 
to take for granted the general stability of the Earth : but 
in other countries the inhabitants, warned by long experi- 
ence, are no less deeply impressed with a conviction of its 
instability. Sir John Herschel says that, in the volcanic 
regions of Central and Southern America, "the inhabitants 
no more think of counting Earthquake shocks, than we do 
of counting showers of rain:" nay, he adds that, "in some 
places along the coast a shower is a greater variety." And 
in Sicily, we are told they make provision against move- 
ments of the Earth's Crust, just as we make provision against 
lightning and storms ; so much so that it is quite a com- 
mon thing for architects to advertise their houses as Earth- 
quake-proof. 




CHAPTER XVII. 

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT ITS POWERS ILLUSTRATED BY UNDU- 
LATIONS OF THE earth's CRUST. 

Gentle movements of the Earth'' s Crtisf within historic times — 
Roman roads and temples submerged in the bay of BaicE — 
Temple of Jupiter Serapis — Singular condition of its col- 
U7nns — Proof of subsidence and subsequent upheaval — Indi- 
cations of a second subsidence now actually takiiig place — 
Gradual upheaval of the coast of Sweden — Sujnmary of the 
evidence adduced to establish this fact — Subsidence of the 
Earth^s Crust on the west coast of Greenland^Recapitula- 
tion. 




O far we have spoken of the disturbance of the 
Earth's Crust in modern times by sudden and 
violent convulsions. But there are many phe- 
nomena with which the Geologist is familiar, that cannot 
be fairly accounted for unless by supposing that the surface 
of the Earth was often elevated and depressed in ancient 
times, without any sudden shock, by a slow and almost in- 
sensible movement. And, accordingly, gentle undulations 
of this kind enter largely into that general theory of Geology 
which we have been attempting to draw out and illustrate. 
It may be asked, therefore, if we are able to support this 
part of our system by examples of similar phenomena oc- 
curring within the period of history. In reply, we shall 
endeavor to set forth, as brieflv as we can, some of the evi- 



2/2 Roinan Temples Submerged, 

dence which has recently come to light on this subject, and 
which seems to us not less conclusive than it is interesting 
and unexpected. 

In the bay of Baiae, to the west of Naples, two ancient 
Roman roads may be distinctly traced, at the present day, 
for a considerable distance, permanently submerged be- 
neath the waters. There are, also, in the same neighbor- 
hood, the ruins of the temple of Neptune and of the temple 
of the Nymphs, both likewise submerged. "The columns 
of the former edifice stand erect in five feet of water, the 
upper portions just rising to the surface ;* the pedestals are 
supposed to be buried in the mud below. Again, on the 
opposite side of Naples, near Sorrento, "a road with frag- 
ments of Roman buildings, is covered to some depth by 
the sea ;" \ and in the island of Capri, at the opening of the 
bay of Naples, one of the palaces of Tiberius is also under 
water. Here, therefore, it is clear that the Crust of the Earth 
has subsided over a very considerable area; since what is 
now the bed of the sea, was in the days of the Romans dry 
land, traversed by roads, and doited over with buildings. 
That the subsidence was slow and gradual may be inferred, 
partly from the absence of any record or tradition of a sud- 
den convulsion producing such a change, and partly, too, 
from the unshaken and undisturbed condition of the mon- 
uments themselves. 

But while this conclusion falls in most happily with our 
present argument, it would seem on further examination to 
bring with it a very serious difficulty. For, while those 
ancient monuments testify that the Crust of the Earth in 
this locality has subsided, the structure of the sea-coast, inter- 
preted according to Geological principles, would indicate, 
on the contrary, that the Crust of the Earth has been up- 
heaved. Close to the sea, at the present day, on the bay of 
Baiae, there is a low, level tract of fertile land, and at a lit- 

* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii., p. 176. f Id, ib. 



Sea Coast on the Bay of Baice, 273 

tie distance inland, a lofty range of precipitous cliffs, eighty 
feet high, parallel to the line of the coast. This fertile 
tract, lying between the sea-beach and the perpendicular 
cliffs, is about twenty feet above the sea level, and is com- 
posed of regularly stratified deposits abounding in marine 
shells of recent species, together with works of human art, 
such as tiles, squares of mosaic pavement, fragments of 
bricks, and sculptured ornaments. Upon these facts a 
Geologist would pronounce without hesitation : — First, 
that at some period since the district around Naples was 
first inhabited by man, the waters of the sea washed' the 
base of the perpendicular cliffs ; secondly, that the strata in 
which we now find the recent marine shells, and the re- 
mains of man's workmanship, were formed during that 
period by the process of deposition at the bottom of the 
sea ; and thirdly, that at some subsequent time, by an up- 
heaval of the Earth's Crust, these strata were lifted up so as 
to form a pretty considerable area of dry land, fit for agri- 
culture and the arts of life. 

Does it not seem, therefore, that we have here a direct 
contradiction between the evidence of ancient Roman 
buildings and the inferences of modern Geology } Doubt- 
less, they both agree in the main point about which we 
are concerned just now, that the Crust of the Earth has 
been moved in recent times on the shores of the bay of 
Naples ; but according to the testimony of the Roman tem- 
ples, now covered by water, this movement has been one 
of subsidence, while, according to the inferences of Geolog- 
ical theory, it has been one of upheaval. This apparent 
contradiction seems to call for some elucidation. 

If we were left in this matter to mere conjecture, we 
might offer the following hypothesis as a fair and reason- 
able solution. We might suppose that since the days of the 
Roman Empire, there have been two successive movemenis of 
the Earth's Crust in the neighborhood of Naples ; first, a 

12* 



2/4 Subsidence and Subsequent Upheaval. 

movement of subsidence, by which the ancient temples and 
roads were submerged to a considerable depth beneath the 
sea ; afterward, a movement of upheaval, by which the 
marine strata were lifted up. If this second movement were 
exactly equal to the first, it is plain that the ancient roads 
and buildings would have been just restored to their former 
level. But let us suppose that the amount of upheaval was 
something less than the amount of previous subsidence, 
and we should have these roads and buildings still sub- 
merged, as they are in point of fact, in a few feet of water. 
By such an hypothesis, therefore, the two classes of phe- 
nomena might be brought into perfect harmony. 

But we are not obliged to take refuge in hypothesis : for 
it is now distinctly proved by a very curious kind of evi- 
dence, that the Crust of the Earth in and about the bay of 
Baiae, has been successively depressed and upraised since 
the third century of the Christian era ; nay more, that the 
subsidence in the first case was greater than the subsequent 
upheaval. Near Pozzuoli, on the level tract of land which, 
as we have said, intervenes between the sea and the lofty 
range of inland cliffs, are to be seen at the present day the 
ruins of a splendid Roman edifice, usually called the tem- 
ple of Jupiter Serapis, though, according to some writers, 
it was not a temple at all, but a public establishrnent foi 
baths. These ruins first attracted attention about the mid- 
dle of the last century. Three magnificent marble columns 
were still standing erect, with their lower parts buried in the 
stratified deposits already described, and their upper por- 
tions, which projected above the surface of the land, partly 
concealed by bushes. When the soil was removed the 
original plan of the building could be distinctly traced. 
"It was of a quadrangular form, seventy feet in diameter, 
and the roof had been supported by forty-six noble col- 
umns, twenty-four of granite and the rest of marble." Many 
of the pillars have been shattered in the course of time, and 



Alternate Subsidence and Upheaval. 276 

lie strewn in fragments on the pavements. The three 
which are still standing erect, are upward of forty feet 
in height, each carved out of a solid block of marble; and, 
what is chiefly to our purpose, they exhibit, curiously 
inscribed on their surface, memorials of the physical 
changes in which they have borne a part. 

The base of these lofty columns is, at present, slightly 
below the level of the sea. Their outer surface is smooth 
for about twelve feet above the pedestals ; then, for the next 
nine feet the marble is everywhere bored by a well-known 
species of mussel, which it is certain can live only in the 
sea. Above this band of perforations the pillars again pre- 
sent a smooth surface, and continue smooth to the top. 
The first inference from these facts is, that the columns in 
question must have been at one time submerged to a height 
of twenty-one feet above the pedestals ; otherwise they could 
not have been bored at that height by a species of animal that 
can only exist in sea-water. Since that time, therefore, the 
land at this spot must have been upraised twenty-one feet. 
Furthermore, the temple of Jupiter was certainly not built 
at the bottom of the sea, but upon dry land ; therefore, 
after the temple had been built, the Crust of the Earth must 
have subsided at least twenty-one feet. Once more : as the 
floor of the temple is now somew^hat below the level of the 
sea, and as it is not very likely it was at first so built, we may 
fairly infer that it is now lower than it originally stood ; and 
consequently, that the total amount of upheaval has not been 
equal to the total amount of subsidence. Though we can- 
not fix the exact date at which the subsidence began, it was 
probably not earlier than the third century ; for in the at- 
rium of the temple is an inscription recording that it was 
adorned with precious marbles by the emperor Septimus 
Severus. 

It cannot be supposed for a moment that these changes 
were eff"ected by a rise and fall in the level of the sea rather 



276 TTemple of yitpiter again subsiding , 

than by a movement of the Earth's Crust. A permanent 
change in the level of the Mediterranean, in any given 
locality, would, of necessity, imply a change of level over 
its entire extent; and therefore, if the phenomena exhibited 
in the bay of Baiae arose from such a cause, we should 
meet with phenomena of the same kind along the whole 
length of the Italian coast. Now, in point of fact, no such 
changes of level are elsewhere apparent; and consequently, 
they must be ascribed in the bay of Baiae, not to an upward 
and downward movement of the sea, but to an upward and 
downward movement of the land. 

We must not omit to state, before leaving the subject, 
that it is now ascertained, by a series of accurate observa- 
tions, that the Crust of the Earth in this interesting locality 
is once again slowly and gradually subsiding. At the be- 
ginning of the century the platform of the temple stood at 
about the level of the sea ; it is now more than a foot below 
it. Nay, this second subsidence appears to have begun 
even before the present century. "In the year 1813,'* 
writes a modern traveller, '*I resided for four months in 
the Capuchin convent of Pozzuoli, which is situated between 
the road from Naples and the sea, at the entrance of the 
town of Pozzuoli. In the Capuchin convents the old- 
est friar is called *il molto reverende,' and the one who 
then enjoyed the title in this convent was ninety-three years 
old. He informed me that, when he was a young man, 
the road from Naples passed on the seaward side of the con- 
vent ; but that, from the gradual sinking of the soil, the 
road was obliged to be altered to its present course. While 
I was staying at the convent, the refectory as well as the 
entrance gate, were from six inches to a foot under wa;ter 
whenever strong westerly winds prevailed, so as to cause 
the waters of the Mediterranean to rise. Thirty years pre- 
viously, my old informant stated, such an occurrence never 
took place. In fact, it is not probable that the builder of 



upheaval of the Coast of Sweden. 277 

the convent would have placed the ground-floor so low as 
to expose to inundation as it now is."* 

On the shores of the Baltic Sea we find another illustra- 
tion of our theory upon a more extended scale. About a 
century and a half ago the Swedish naturalist, Celsius, ex- 
pressed a belief that a remarkable change of level was 
taking place along the eastern coast of Scandinavia ; and 
he ascribed the change to a subsidence of the waters of the 
Baltic Sea. This opinion was received at first with no 
small amount of incredulity ; but the arguments of Celsius 
were plausible and attractive enough to excite a contro- 
versy, and the controversy once aroused was not easily set 
at rest. Accordingly, since his time the facts upon which 
he relied have been more strictly examined, difficulties 
have been started and investigated, many new facts, at first 
unknown or unnoticed, have been brought to light, and 
the whole question has been rigorously discussed by scien- 
tific men. It would be tedious to go through the history 
of the discussion, or to develop at any length the arguments 
which in the end have proved successful, involving as they 
do a multitude of minute observations and nice measure- 
ments, made at a great variety of different places with 
hard-sounding names. But the general result may be 
readily stated and as readily understood. 

It appears that numerous sunken reefs, well known to 
navigators, have, within the last two centuries, become visi- 
ble above water; that many ancient ports have become 
inland towns ; that many small islands have become united 
to one another and to the mainland by grassy plains ; that 
rocky points which in former times just peeped above the 
water, and afforded refuge only to a solitary sea;-bird, are 
now grown into little islets ; and that several of the old fish- 

* Letter from C. HuUmandel, Esq.; see Mantell, Wonders of Geology, 
Appendix G., p. 470. For a full and elaborate disquisition on the Temple 
of Jupiter Serapis, see also Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii., chap. xxv. 



278 Coast of Greenland slowly subsiding. 

ing grounds are now deserted for their shallowness, nay, in 
some cases, altogether dried up. From these facts the 
inference is plain ; either the solid Crust of the Earth has 
been uplifted, or the waters of the sea have subsided. Now 
it is certain there has been no subsidence of the sea ; for 
such a subsidence, as we before observed, if it took place 
at all, should have been general ; whereas there are many- 
points on the shores of the Baltic, especially along the 
coasts of Denmark and Prussia, where it can be proved 
that no change of level has taken place for centuries. 
And therefore the phenomena above described we must 
attribute to an upheaval of the Earth's Crust.* 

Such is the kind of reasoning with which this inquiry 
has been pursued ; and it may now be set down as a re- 
ceived and established fact, that a slow and gradual pro- 
cess of upheaval is going on, at the present day, on the 
shores of the Baltic Sea, at the rate of from two to four 
feet in a century; and this is over an area of unknown 
breadth, and not less than 1000 miles in length. Evidence 
of a similar kind has lately been adduced to prove that the 
west coast of Greenland is just now gradually subsiding 
for a space of more than 600 miles from north to south. 
"Ancient buildings on low, rocky islands, and on the 
shore of the mainland, have been gradually submerged, 
and experience has taught the aboriginal Greenlander 
never to build his hut near the water's edge. In one case 
the Moravian settlers have been obliged more than once to 
move the poles upon which their large boats were set, and 
the old poles still remain beneath the water as silent wit- 
nesses of the change. " f 

It should seem, therefore, that the Crust of the Earth is 
not that fixed and immovable mass of unyielding rock which 
it is often supposed to be. Whatever the gigantic power 
is which lies shut up within it,, and which seems, clearly 

* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii., chap, xxxi, f Ibid. 



Instability of the Ea rth ' s Crust. 279 

enough, to be developed in some way or another — perhaps 
in many ways at once — from internal heat, that power exer- 
cises a mighty influence from age to age on the outward 
form of our planet. Like the wind, indeed, it bloweth 
where it listeth, and we cannot tell whence it cometh or 
whither it goeth ; but we can hear the sound thereof, and 
witness its effects when it breaks out now in this quarter of 
the world, and now in that, bursting" open the massive 
rocks, and furiously vomiting forth whole mountains of 
smouldering ashes and molten mineral; or again, when, 
failing to find a vent, it shakes the foundations of the hills, 
and shivers into fragments the most enduring works of 
man — castles, temples, palaces, — filling every heart with 
terror and dismay ; or, in fine, when it gently upheaves the 
bottom of the ocean, or by withdrawing the strain, allows 
the Crust of the Earth to subside, with a movement so grad- 
ual and insensible as to escape the notice of the multitudes 
who are toiling in the busy cities on its Surface. That phe- 
nomena of this kind have been going on in all past ages, 
is now universally assumed in the speculations of Geology : 
that they are going on in the present age, we have here 
endeavored to prove by the evidence of facts. If we have 
succeeded according to our expectations, the reader will be 
prepared to admit that, on this point at least, it is not the 
Geologist who may fairly be charged with having recourse 
tu the inventions of his fancy, but rather those who, assum- 
ing as a first principle that Geolog)' is false, perseveringly 
shut their eyes to the physical changes that are going on 
around them. 



PART IL 



THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH CONSIDERED IN 
RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF GENESIS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION AND EXPOSITION OF THE 
author's VIEW. 



The ge7ieral principles of geological theory accepted by the 
author — These principles plainly import the extrei7te anti- 
quity of the earth — Illustration from the coal, the chalky 
and the boulder clay — This conclusion not at variance with 
the inspired history of creation — Chronology of the Bible — '■ 
Genealogies of Genesis — Date of the creation not fixed by 
Moses — Progress of opinion on this point — Cardinal Wise- 
man, Father Perrone, Father Pianciani — Doctor Buckland 
— Doctor Chalmers, Doctor Pye Smith, Hugh Miller — 
Author's view explaiiied — Charge of rashness aftd irrever- 
etice answered — Admonitio?ts of Sai?it Augustijie aiid Saint 
Thomas. 

|HE reader has now before him a general outline 
of Geological theory, together with some familiar 
illustrations of the. evidence by which it is sup- 
ported. We shall not attempt to enforce this evidence by 
any remarks of our own. Indeed it is of a kind that 
can derive but little aid from the arts of logic or rhetoric. 
It needs but to be fairly understood, and if it does not 




Geological Theory established, 281 

altogether compel our assent, it begets at least a presump- 
tion so strong as to. leave little room for doubt or hesita- 
tion. 

Nobody, so far as we know, has ever hesitated to be- 
lieve that the Round Towers of Ireland are the work of 
human hands. And yet if some incredulous skeptic were 
to raise the cry against this common opinion, were to argue 
that it is a mere hypothesis, and call for proof, we should 
be embarrassed how to answer him. We could only say 
that these monuments have all the characteristic marks 
of man's handiwork ; and that buildings of this kind have 
never been known to come into existence except through 
the agency of Man. But should our vexatious skeptic con- 
tend that they were possibly produced by a freak of Nature ; 
or that they were built in the beginning by the Creator of 
the World, who certainly might have made them had He 
beeri so minded, we should think him very unreasonable, 
and probably not- feel much disposed to prolong the dis- 
cussion. In like manner the theory of Geology which we 
are defending, cannot be established by a rigid demonstra- 
tion : but we believe there is not one man of sense and 
judgment, who, being fully master of the evidence on 
which it rests, hesitates to accept that theory, at least in its 
more general outlines. No doubt many able and eminent 
men are to be found arrayed against Geology ; but it would 
be easy to show from their writings that they have never 
thoroughly examined the facts about which they talk so 
flippantly, and which they often set aside so lightly. 

For ourselves, therefore, we frankly avow that while we 
attach but little importance to the mere conjectures and 
speculations of Geological writers ; while we look with 
doubt and suspicion on many plausible theories commonly 
enough adopted at the present day ; and while we con- 
sider that the discoveries of modern times, wonderful 
though they are, have given rise to far more problems than 



282 Geological Theory established. 

they are yet able to solve ; yet we do fully assent to those 
general principles which we have been attempting to develop 
and to illustrate in this Volume. Absolutely metaphysical 
certainty we have not ; but we have a firm and rational con- 
viction. We feel quite satisfied that the great Creator of 
the Universe did not bring suddenly into existence the 
withered remains and broken fragments of animals which 
had never lived ; that He did not stamp upon the massive 
rocks, buried in the profound recesses of the earth, the im- 
press of a luxuriant vegetation which had never flourished ; 
that He did not, in short, create under millions of forms, the 
delusive appearances of things which had never been, and 
scatter them through this world of ours in wild profusion, 
well knowing that after many centuries they would come to 
light to bewilder human reason, and to lead it into error. 
This conclusion, of course, we are prepared to abandon if 
it should be found to clash wuth any certain truth or with 
any demonstrated fact. But, in the mean time, it seems to 
us as well grounded and as fairly established as the con- 
clusions we are accustomed to accept without hesitation in 
the matter of other sciences, and in the common business 
of life. 

It is argued, however, that Geological theory is, .in fact, 
at variance with the very highest order of truth ; with that 
truth which comes to us on the authority of God Himself 
The Bible tells us that the world first came into existence 
about six or eight thousand years ago : Geology, on the 
contrary, tells us that six or eight thousand years are but as 
yesterday in the history of the revolutions through which 
our Globe has passed. This is the argument to which we 
are now about to address ourselves ; and. it well deserves 
our best attention, not only from its intrinsic importance, 
but also from the interesting nature of the discussion to 
which it has given rise. 

In the first place, we fully admit that the extreme 



Vas^ Antiqtcity of the Earth, 283 

Antiquity of the Earth is a necessary consequence of our 
theory. Setting out from the present stage of the world's 
existence, Geology carries us back from epoch to epoch, 
through a long succession of ages, each extending over 
many thousand years, until the mind is lost in the seeming 
infinity of the past. It may be asked, perhaps, in what way 
Geology can testify to the great length of each successive 
period in the history of the Globe. A familiar example will 
furnish the most convenient reply to such a question. 

Let the reader call to mind what we have already ex- 
plained about the origin and formation of Coal ; and then 
let him examine the structure of the Carboniferous Rocks. 
In the great Coal-fields of Wales, for instance, he will find, 
in a depth of 12,000 feet, from fifty to a hundred distinct 
beds of coals, spread out one above another, with interven- 
ing strata of clay several feet thick. Now each one of these 
beds represents an ancient forest which must have grown 
up and flourished and decayed ; or else an immense and 
varied mass of Drift-wood, transported from a distance by 
the action of moving water, and deposited near the mouth 
of some great river. In either case a considerable lapse of 
time would have been necessary for such an accumulation 
of vegetable matter as would furnish the elements even of a 
single seam of Coal. And, when that period came to an 
end, only one little stage in the long series had been accom- 
plished : one stratum of a few feet had been laid down in 
that great Formation which was to reach at length a height 
of more than two miles. A new condition of things then 
ensued. This layer of vegetable matter, sunk below the 
waters, was gradually covered over with a thick deposit of 
clay, which, in course of time, was to emerge, and become 
dry land, and give birth to a second forest, destined in its 
turn to wither and decay. Or, at least, when the stratum 
of clay had been deposited, it was to be overlaid, in some 
way or another, with a second layer of vegetable matter suf- 



284 Illustration from the Chalk. 

ficient for the production of a second bed of coal. And so 
this process must have gone on, doubtless with many and 
long interruptions, for a hundred times in succession. 

Then it must be remembered that the Coal-bearing strata 
represent but one of many periods, and that not the longest 
in the Geological Calendar. Before the age of the Coal, 
England was for centuries at the bottom of the sea, while 
the Old Red Sandstone was slowly spread out over its exist- 
ing surface. And after the age of the Coal, England was 
again submerged, and gigantic Ichthyosaurs with their com- 
panions of the deep, sported in the waters that rolled over 
her plains and covered the tops of her mountains ; and, 
when they had run their course, left their remains buried 
in the clays of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire and Dorset- 
shire. 

Furthermore, the beds in which these monstrous reptiles 
are entombed were overlaid by a stratum of calcareous ooze, 
now forming a solid mass of Chalk Rock, often a thousand 
feet in thickness. This Chalk, as we have seen, is nothing 
else than a vast accumulation of shells, so minute that mil- 
lions of them would fit together on the blade of a small pen- 
knife, and hundreds of millions are carried about by every 
carpenter in his waistcoat pocket. How many generations 
of animalcules it took to pile up such an immense thick- 
ness of rock, by the action of their vital powers, and how 
many ages were consumed in the process it is beyond the 
reach of science to calculate, almost beyond the power of 
imagination to conceive. And yet the Chalk itself was fol- 
lowed by the various Formations of the Tertiary Age ; while 
the last of these is separated by the Drift and Boulder Clay 
from the superficial deposits which correspond with the 
period of history, and which go by the name of Recent. 

This topic has been illustrated in a lively and striking 
manner by Professor Huxley, in a Lecture delivered not 
long ago before the working-men of Norwich. "At Cro- 



Age of the Chalk. 2 85 

mer," he says, "one of the most charming spots on the 
coast of Norfolk, you will see the Boulder Clay forming a 
vast mass, which lies upon the Chalk, and must conse- 
quently have come into existence after it. Huge boulders 
of chalk are, in fact, included in the clay, and have evi- 
dently been brought to the position they now occupy by 
the same agency as that which has planted blocks of 
syenite from Norway side by side with, them. 

"The Chalk, then, is certainly older than the Boulder 
Clay. If you ask how much, I will again take you no fur- 
ther than the same spot upon your own coasts for evidence. 
I have spoken of the Boulder Clay and Drift as resting 
upon the Chalk. That is not strictly true. Interposed 
between the Chalk and the Drift is a comparatively insig- 
nificant layer, containing vegetable matter. But that layer 
tells a wonderful history. It is full of stumps of trees 
standing as they grew. Fir-trees are there with their cones, 
and hazel-bushes with their nuts ; there stand the stools of 
oak and yew trees, beeches and alders. Hence this stratum 
is appropriately called the Forest-bed. 

"It is obvious that the Chalk must have been upheaved 
and converted into dry land before the timber trees could 
grow upon it. As the trunks of some of these trees are 
from two to three feet in diameter, it is no less clear that 
the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition 
for long ages. And not only do the remains of stately 
oaks and well-grown firs testify to the duration of this con- 
dition of things, but additional evidence to the same effect 
is afforded by the abundant remains of elephants, rhinoce- 
roses, hippopotamuses, and other great wild beasts, which 
it has yielded to the zealous search of such men as the 
Reverend Mr. Gunn. 

"When you look at such a collection as he has formed, 
and bethink you that these elephantine bones did veritably 
carry their owners about, and these great grinders crunch 



286 RevolMUo7zs of the Earth' s Crust 

in the dark woods of which the Forest-bed is now the only 
trace, it is impossible not to feel that they are as good evi- 
dence of the lapse of time as the annual rings of the tree- 
stumps. 

''Thus there is a writing upon the wall of cliffs at Cro- 
mer, and w^hoso runs may read it. It tells us with an au- 
thority which cannot be impeached, that the ancient bed of 
the Chalk sea was raised up and remained dry land until 
it was covered with forest, stocked with the great game 
whose spoils have rejoiced your Geologists. How long it 
remained in that condition cannot be said ; but the * whirli- 
gig of time brought its revenges' in those days as in these. 
That dry land, with the bones and teeth of generations of 
long-lived elephants hidden away among the gnarled roots 
and dry leaves of its ancient trees, sank gradually to the 
bottom of the icy sea, which covered it with huge masses 
of Drift and Boulder Clay. Sea-beasts, such as the walrus, 
now restricted to the extreme north, paddled about where 
birds had twittered among the topmost twigs of the fir-trees. 
How long this state of things endured we know not, but at 
length it came to an end. The upheaved glacial mud 
hardened into the soil of modern Norfolk. Forests grew 
once more, the wolf and the beaver replaced the reindeer 
and the elephant ; and at length what we called the history 
of England, dawned. 

"Thus evidence which cannot be rebutted, and which 
need not be strengthened, though, if time permitted, I 
might indefinitely increase its quantity, compels you to be- 
lieve that the Earth from the time of the Chalk to the pres- 
ent day, has been the theatre of a series of changes as vast 
in their amount as they were slow in their progress. The 
area on which we stand has been first sea and then land for 
at least four alternations, and has remained in each of these 
conditions for a period of great length. 

"Nor have these wonderful metamorphoses of the sea 



since the Deposition of the Chalk. 2Sy 

into land, and of land into sea, been confined to one cor- 
ner of England. During the Chalk Period not one of the 
present great physical features of the Globe was in existence. 
Our great mountain ranges, Pyrenees, Alps, Himalayas, 
Andes, have all been upheaved since the Chalk was depos- 
ited, and the Cretaceous sea flowed over the sites of Sinai 
and Ararat. 

''All this is certain, because rocks of Cretaceous or still 
later date have shared in the elevatory movements which 
gave rise to these mountain chains, and may be found 
perched up, in some cases, many thousand feet high upon 
their flanks. And evidence of equal cogency demonstrates 
that, though in Norfolk the Forest-bed rests directly upon 
the Chalk, yet it does so, not because the period at which 
the forest grew immediately followed that at which the Chalk 
was formed, but because an immense lapse of time, repre- 
sented elsewhere by thousands of feet of rock, is not indi- 
cated at Cromer. 

"I must ask you to believe that there is no less conclu- 
sive proof that a still more prolonged succession of similar 
changes occurred before the Chalk was deposited. Nor 
have we any reason to think that the first term in the series 
of these changes is known. The oldest sea-beds preserved 
to us are sands and mud and pebbles, the wear and tear of 
rocks which were formed in still older oceans."* 

It is needless to pursue this subject further, or to seek 
for other illustrations. We may reject Geology if we will : 
but if we put any faith even in its main principles, we must 
believe that the Crust of the Earth has passed through an 
indefinite series of revolutions, during which the Stratified 
Rocks were slowly built up by the action of natural causes. 
And it would be utterly ridiculous to suppose that the his- 
tory of these revolutions can be compressed into the narrow 
compass of six thousand years. 

* On a Piece of Chalk : A Lecture to Working Men. 



288 Age of the World 

Turning now to the other side of the question, we main- 
tain that this extreme Antiquity of the Earth, which we 
have learned from Geology, is perfectly consistent with the 
historical narrative of the Bible. The Bible, indeed, does 
fix the Chronology of the Human Race at a comparatively 
recent period ; but as for the Chronology of the World 
itself, the Bible simply tells us that, ''In the beginning 
God created the Heavens and the Earth." For all that 
appears to the contrary, this Earth of ours may have been 
in existence for millions of years before man was introduced 
upon the scene ; and during that time may have been peo- 
pled with those countless tribes of plants and animals which 
play so important a part in the records of Geology. This 
view, which is not only fully tolerated by the Church, but 
now largely supported by her Divines and Commentators, 
we hope to bring home clearly to our readers in the follow- 
ing pages ; and thus to satisfy them that, as regards the 
Antiquity of the Earth, the discoveries of Geology can offer 
no prejudice to our religious belief 

At the outset it is of some importance to understand clearly 
the nature of that system of Chronology which is gathered 
from the Bible. Nowhere in the Sacred Text is the age of 
the human race explicitly set forth. But various data are 
found scattered here and there through the historical nar- 
rative, which afford us sufficient materials to compute the 
years that elapsed from the Creation of Adam to the Birth 
of Christ. Unfortunately, however, these data are in some 
respects obscure, and in some respects uncertain. And 
thus it has come to pass that many different systems of 
Chronology have come into vogue, even amongst those 
who profess to be guided entirely by the authority of the 
Bible. 

The whole period may be conveniently divided into two 
parts ; — from the Creation of Adam to the Call of Abraham ; 
and from the call of Abraham to the Birth of Christ. As 



not determ ined by the Bible, 289 

regards the latter interval, the difference of opinion between 
Chronologists is not very substantial ; the length of the 
period may be roughly set down at about 2,000 years. But 
in the computation of the former interval a very wide dif- 
ference prevails, arising from a diversity of reading in the 
earliest versions of the Pentateuch. 

The materials for the computation are derived from two 
genealogical lists, one extending from Adam to Noah,* the 
other from Noah to Abraham, f In these lists we have 
not only the direct line of descent from father to son, ex- 
tending through the whole period in question, but, more- 
over, we have the age of each individual member of the 
genealogy at the time when the next in succession was born. 
As, for example : — "Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, 
and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called 
his name Seth. And the days of Adam, after he had begot 
Seth, were eight hundred years : and he begot sons and 
daughters. And all the time that Adam lived came to 
nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Seth also 
lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos. And Seth 
lived, after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, 
and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth 
were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. And 
Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan :" "l and so on. 
Now it is plain, according to this statement, that from the 
Creation of Adam to the birth of Seth was a hundred and 
thirty years ; to the birth of Enos, a hundred and thirty, 
more a hundred and five years ; to the birth of Cainan, a 
hundred and thirty, more a hundred and five, more ninety 
years. And in this way, following the genealogies of the 
Book of Genesis, we may easily compute the time from 
the Creation of Adam to the Birth of Abraham. Adding 
seventy-five years to this period, we reach the epoch known 
as the Call of Abraham ; for we are told that "Abraham 

* Genesis, v. 3-32. f lb., xi. 10-26. :{: lb., v. 3-9. 

31 



290 Various Readings, 

was seventy and five years old when he went forth from 
Haran/'* 

Now every one knows that when a long catalogue of 
names and numbers is copied and recopied from age to 
age, errors are very likely to creep in and be perpetuated. 
And so it has been in the present case. The three 
earliest versions of the Pentateuch are the Hebrew, the 
Samaritan, and the Septuagint: and between these three 
versions there is a very great discrepancy with regard to the 
figures in question ; so great, indeed, as to make up, on 
the whole, a difference of 1 500 years, or more, in the age 
of the human race. In the table that appears on the fol- 
lowing page, for which we are mainly indebted to the work 
of a modern writer, f this diversity of reading is set forth in 
a vei^y simple and intelligible form. 

It is plain that of these three different versions, one only 
can represent the true age of the human race when Abra- 
ham went forth, at the command of God, from his country 
and his kindred and his father's house, to go into the land 
of Canaan : and at this distance of time, it is impossible to 
determine with anything like certainty, which of the three 
has the greatest claim on our acceptance. The Church 
has not pronounced upon the subject; and the question is 
freely discussed among Biblical scholars. But the' details of 
this controversy have little to do with our present argument. 
Enough it is for us to know that, from the Creation of 
Adam to the Birth of Christ, cannot have been more than 
six thousand years at the highest computation, nor much 
less than four thousand at the lowest. Adding 1869 years 
of the Christian Era, the present age of the Human Race 
according to the data of the Bible would seem to lie. between 
six and eight thousand years. 

* Genesis, xii. 4. 

f The Genesis of the Earth and Man, Edited by Reginald Stuart Poole : 
London 5 Williams and Norgate j i860. 



Genealogies of Genesis. 
Genealogies of Genesis. 



291 



LIST OF 






AGE OF EACH WHEN THE NEXT 


PATKIAKCHS. 








WAS BORN. 
ACCORDING TO 






Septuagint. 


Hebrew. 


Samaritan. 


Adam, .... 






230 • 


130 


130 


Seth, ..... 






205 


105 


105 


Enos, .... 






190 


90 


90 


Cainan, ..... 






170 


70 


70 


Malaleel, .... 






165 


65 


• 65 


Jared, 






i6a 


162 


62 


Henoch, .... 






165 


65 


65 


Mathusala, .... 






167 


187 


67 


Lamech, . 






188 


182 


53 


Noe, 






500 


500 


500 


Sem, .... 






100 


100 


100 


From the creation of Adam to the 


) 








birth of Arphaxad, two years 


if- 




2242 


1656 


1307 


ter the Flood,* 




i 








Arphaxad, 


. 




135 


35 


135 


Cainan,! .... 






130 


— 


— 


Sale, 


. 




130 


30 


130 


Heber, ..... 






134 


34 


134 


Phaleg, . . . . 


. 




130 


30 


130 


Reu, 






132 


3^ 


132 


Sarug, .... 


,. 




130 


30 


130 


Nachor, .... 






79 


29 


79 


Thare, 


. 




70 


70 


70 


Abraham called by God, 






75 


75 


75 


From the Flood to the Call 


of 




1 145 


365 


1015 


Abraham, 










From the Creation of Adam 


to 










the Call of Abraham, ' . 




3387 


202I 


2322 



* "Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years 
after the flood." — Genesis, xi. 10. 

j- This second Cainan does not appear in the Hebrew or the Samaritan 
version. 



292 History of the Creation, 

The Bible, then, does determine, though with some 
vagueness and uncertainty, the age of the Human Race. 
We have now to consider whether, in fixing the age of the 
Human Race, it fixes likewise the age of the World itself. 
For this purpose we must turn our attention to the first 
chapter of Genesis, in which is briefly set forth the origin 
and early history of our Globe from the Creation of the 
Heavens and the Earth in the beginning to the Creation of 
Man at the close of the Sixth Day. If it should appear 
that these two events were comprised within a yery narrow 
limit of time, as is not unfrequently supposed, then indeed 
the age of the world must agree pretty nearly with the age 
of the Human Race. But if on the other hand, between 
these two events the Sacred Record allows us to suppose an 
interval of indefinite length, then it plainly follows that the 
age of the Human Race, as set forth in the Bible Genealo- 
gies, can afford no evidence against the Antiquity of the 
Earth. The question is thus brought within very narrow 
limits. We have simply to take up the First Chapter of 
Genesis, and inquire whether or no it is there conveyed 
that the Creation of Man, which is described toward the 
close of the chapter, followed after the lapse of only a few 
days upon the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, 
which is recorded in the first verse. 

For many centuries this question received but little 
attention from the readers of the Bible. It was commonly 
assumed that, as the various events of the Creation are 
traced out in rapid succession by the Inspired Writer, and 
strung together into one continuous narrative, so did they 
follow one another, in reality, with a corresponding rapidity, 
and in the same unbroken continuity. The progress of 
Physical Science had not yet shown any necessity for sup- 
posing a lengthened period of time to have elapsed between 
the Creation of the World and the Creation of Man : nor 
was there anything in the narrative itself to suggest such an 



Progress of Opinion, 293 

idea. Thus it was generally taken for granted, almost 
without discussion, that when God had created the Heavens 
and the Earth in the beginning, He at o?ice set about the 
work of arranging and furnishing the universe, and fitting 
it up for the use of man; that He distributed this work 
over a period of six ordinar)' days, and at the close of the 
sixth day, introduced our First Parents upon the scene : 
and that, therefore, the beginning of the Human Race was 
but six days later than the beginning of the World. 

These notions about the history of the Creation continued 
to prevail almost down to our own time. It is to be observed, 
however, that they were not founded on a close and scien- 
tific examination of the Sacred Text. The hypothesis of a 
long and eventful state of existence prior to the Creation of 
Man may be said rather to have been overlooked, than to 
have been rejected, by our Commentators. There was no 
good reasons for entertaining such a speculation, and so 
they said nothing about it. But now that the v/orld is 
ringing with the wonderful discoveries of Geology, which 
seem to point more and more clearly every day to the 
extreme Antiquity of the Earth, it becomes an imperative 
duty to examine once again with all diligence and care the 
Inspired narrative of the Creation, and to consider well the 
relation in which it stands with this new dogma of Physical 
Science. 

We are not the first to enter upon the inquiry. Already 
it has engaged the attention and stimulated the industry of 
Theological writers for more than half a century. Many 
eminent men, distinguished alike for their extensive acquire- 
ments and for their religious zeal, have protested warmly 
against the opinion of Geologists, concerning the Antiquity 
of the Earth, as one that cannot be reconciled with the his- 
torical accuracy of the Bible. Bur, on the other hand, there 
are writers no less illustrious, and no less sincerely attached 
to the cause of religion, who contend that there is nothing in 



2 94 Eminent Modern Author ities. 

the Sacred Text to exclude the supposition of a long and 
indefinite interval — an interval if necessary of many millions 
of years — between the first creation of matter and the crea- 
tion of man. Thirty years ago this opinion was defended 
by Cardinal Wiseman with great learning, and with great 
felicity of illustration, in his famous Lectures on the Con- 
nection between Science and Revealed Religion. The em- 
inent Roman Jesuit, Father Perrone, has followed the same 
line of argument in his Pra^lectiones Theologicae, which, as 
every one knows, has long since become a classic work in 
schools of Theology. It has been yet more fully discussed, 
and supported by more elaborate reasoning, in a work enti- 
tled Cosmogonia Naturale Comparata col Genesi, lately 
published in Rome at the press of the Civilta Cattolica, 
by another distinguished Jesuit, John Baptist Pianciani. 
Amongst Protestant writers, too, this view of the Mosaic 
narrative has found no inconsiderable number of able advo- 
cates. It is defended by Doctor Buckland, the eminent 
Geologist, in his celebrated Bridgewater Treatise, by Doctor 
Chalmers in his Evidences of the Christian Revelation, by 
Doctor Pye Smith in his dissertations on Geology and Scrip- 
ture, by the eloquent and original Hugh Miller in his inter- 
esting work on the Testimony of the Rocks ; and by a host 
of others scarcely less distinguished than these. 

But these learned writers are not altogether of one accord 
as to the precise point in the First Chapter of Genesis, at 
which we may suppose a long interval of time to have inter- 
vened. Some, with Doctor Buckland, Doctor Pye Smith, 
and Doctor Chalmers, consider that this interval may best be 
introduced between the beginning of all time, when God 
created the Heavens and the Earth, and the beginning of 
the First Day, when He set about preparing the world as a 
dwelling-place for man. . Sacred Scripture, they say, simply 
records these two events, (i) that "In the beginning God 
created the Heavens and the Earth," and (2) that, at some 



TheAiUhors View. 295 

subsequent time, ''God said : Let there be light: and light 
was made." But Sacred Scripture does not tell us what 
length of time elapsed between these two great acts of Divine 
Omnipotence. For aught we know from Revelation, it may 
have been but a single day, or it may have been a million 
of years. Others again, as for instance Pianciani, prefer 
to suppose that each one of the Six Days may have been 
itself a period of indefinite, nay of almost inconceivable 
duration. So that, between the beginning of the world and 
the creation of man six great ages of the Earth's history may 
have rolled by, each one distinguished by a new manifes- 
tation of God's power, and the introduction of new forms of 
life. These writers even fancy that they can discover a close 
analogy between the successive acts of creation recorded in 
Genesis, and the gradual development of organic life ex- 
hibited in the great Epochs of Geology. 

To us it seems that either one or the other of these two 
systems, or both together, may be fairly admitted without 
any undue violence to the text of the Inspired narrative : and 
this, we would observe in passing, is the opinion to which 
Cardinal Wiseman appears to have inclined, thirty years ago, 
in his Lectures on the Connection between Science and Re- 
ligion. We maintain, then, in the first place, that there is 
nothing in the Mosaic narrative, when carefully examined, 
at variance with the hypothesis of an indefinite interval be- 
tween the creation of the world and the work of the Six Days. 
And, in the second place, we contend that it is quite consist- 
ent with the usage of Sacred Scripture to explain these Days 
of Creation as long periods of time. 

It may appear, perhaps, to some of our readers that this 
is dangerous ground on which we are about to venture. 
They may have been accustomed all their lives to view the 
history of Creadon through the medium of those notions 
that commonly prevailed before the discoveries of Geology; 



296 No Irreverence to Holy Scripture. 

and from the influence of long association they may have 
come, in the end, to regard their own interpretation with 
scarcely less veneration than the Inspired Text itself. Such 
persons will naturally be disposed to look upon our under- 
taking with disfavor and suspicion. They will think us 
guilty of irreverence toward Holy Scripture when we seek 
to modify our views about its meaning, in deference to the 
conclusions of Physical Science ; and they may be tempted 
even to charge us with putting the idle interpretations of 
men into the balance against the Inspired Word of God. 

To this line of objection we would answer, that we can- 
not be guilty of irreverence to the Holy Scripture, when we 
are only striving, with due submission to the authority of 
the Church, to discover the true meaning of an obscure and 
difficult passage, on which the Church has pronounced no 
definite judgment. Nor can we be said to make light of the 
Word of God, when we are but attempting to defend its un- 
erring veracity from the assaults of infidel writers. Further- 
more we would add, that, if it is a dangerous thing to modify 
the received interpretation of certain parts of Scripture, when 
the progress of science enables us to see physical phenom- 
ena under a new light, it is a far more dangerous thing to 
persist in imputing to Scripture a doctrine that, in a very 
short time, may be proved to be false, beyond the possibility 
of contradiction. 

These sentiments are not altogether our own. They 
have come to us, in great part, from an illustrious Doctor 
of the Church ; and we are glad, at this early stage of our 
discussion, to be able to shelter our humble efforts under 
the authority of his venerable name. It is now more than 
fourteen centuries and a half since Saint Augustine set 
about the literal interpretation of Genesis, which he accom- 
plished in a Treatise of twelve books. Toward the close 
of the first book he expatiates at some length on the diffi- 
culty of his undertaking, and on the variety of diverse inter- 



Admonition of St. A ugustine. 297 

pretations, which prevailed even in his time. From this 
he takes occasion to warn his readers that, ** if we find any- 
thing in Divine Scripture that may be variously explained 
without any injury to faith, we should not rush headlong 
by positive assertion either to one opinion or the other ; 
lest, if perchance the opinion we have adopted should after- 
ward turn out to be false, our faith should fall with it ; and 
we should be found contending, not so much for the doc- 
trine of the Sacred Scriptures as for our own ; endeavoring 
to make our doctrine to be that of the Scriptures, instead 
of taking the doctrine of the Scriptures to be ours."* And 
a little further on he again exposes the imprudence of such a 
proceeding, in words that cannot but be considered pecu- 
liarly applicable to our present subject : — 

* ' It often happens that one who is not a Christian hath 
some knowledge derived from the clearest arguments or 
from the evidence of his senses about the earth, about the 
heavens, about the other elements of this world, about the 
movements and revolutions, or about the size and dis- 
tances of the stars, about certain eclipses of the sun and 
moon, about the course of the years and the seasons, about 
the nature of animals, plants, and minerals, and about 
other things of a like kind. Now it is an unseemly and 
mischievous thing, and greatly to be avoided, that a Chris- 
tian man speaking on such matters, as if according to the 
authority of Christian Scripture, should talk so foolishly 
that the unbeliever, on hearing him, and observing the 
extravagance of his error, should hardly be able to refrain 
from laughing. And the great mischief is, not so much 
that the man himself is laughed at for his errors, but that 
our authors are believed by people without the Church to 
have taught such things, and so are condemned as un- 
learned, and cast aside, to the great loss of those for whose 
salvation we are so much concerned. For, when they find 

* Appendix (i), 

13* 



298 Prtidcnt Caution of St. Thomas, 

one belonging to the Christian body falling into error on a 
subject with which they themselves are thoroughly conver- 
sant, and when they see him, moreover, enforcing his 
groundless opinion by the authority of our Sacred Books, 
how are they likely to put trust in these Books about the 
resurrection of the dead, and the hope of eternal life, and 
the kingdom of heaven, having already come to regard 
them as fallacious about those things they had themselves 
learned from observation or from unquestionable evidence? 
And, indeed, it were not easy to tell what trouble and sor- 
row some rash and presumptuous men bring upon their 
prudent brethren, who, when they are charged with a per- 
verse and false opinion by those who do not accept the 
authority of our Books, attempt to put forward these same 
Holy Books in defence of that which they have lightly and 
falsely asserted ; sometimes even quoting from memory 
what they think will suit their purpose, and putting forth 
many words, without well understanding either what they 
say, or what they are talking about."* 

And many ages after. Saint Thomas, the great luminary 
of the schools, appeals to this wise admonition of Saint 
Augustine, and applies it to the circumstances of his own 
times. Writing about the work of the Second Day, he says 
that "in questions of this sort there are two things to be 
observed. First, that the truth of Scripture be inviolably 
maintained. Secondly, since Scripture doth admit of 
diverse interpretations, that we must not cling to any par- 
ticular exposition with such pertinacity, that if what we 
supposed to be the teaching of Scripture should afterward 
turn out to be clearly false, we should nevertheless still pre- 
sume to put it forward ; lest thereby we should expose the 
Inspired Word of God to the derision of unbelievers, and 
shut them out from the way of salvation, "f 

Under the sanction of two such illustrious Saints and 

* Appendix (2). j- Appendix (3). 



Tzuo Points for Discussion. 299 

Doctors we need not hesitate to proceed in our attempt to 
reconcile the Inspired narrative of the Creation with the 
doctrine of the Antiquity of the Earth, as set forth by the 
advocates of Geology. Let it be remembered, however, 
that we do not undertake to prove the extreme Antiquity of 
the Earth from the language of Scripture ; but simply to 
show that the language of Scripture leaves the Antiquity of 
the Earth an open question. The Geologist holds that this 
Globe of ours has been in existence for hundreds of thou- 
sands, perhaps for millions of years ; and our object is to 
show that, while maintaining this opinion, he may, never- 
theless, accept the historical truth of the Bible narrative. 

As before explained, two points arise for discussion : 
first, can we suppose an interval of indefinite length to have 
elapsed between the Creation of the World, and the work 
of the Six Days .? and secondly, is it lawful to explain these 
Days in the sense of long periods.? We shall take these 
two questions in succession, dealing with each upon its 
own merits ; and if we fail to enforce conviction, we hope, 
at least, to vindicate our rio:ht to toleration. 




J HB VI ,,Kl.J. 




^ " " " " '^ " '^ " " '" " " " ''^ 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FIRST HYPOTHESIS ; AN INTERVAL OF INDEFINITE DURATION 

BETWEEN THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THE 
FIRST MOSAIC DAY. 

The heavens and the earth we^-e created before the first Mosaic 
day — Objection from Exodus, xx. 9-1 1 — Answer — Inter- 
pretatio?i of the author supported by the best commentators 
— Confirined by the Hebrew text — The early fathers com- 
monly held the existence of created matter prior to the 
work of the Six Days — Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostom, Saint 
Ambrose, Venerable Bede — The most eminent doctors in the 
schools concurred in this opifiion — Peter Lombard, Hugh of 
Saint Victor, Saint Thomas — Also commentators and theo- 
logians — Perrerius, Petavius — Distinguished names on the 
other side, A Lapide, Tostatus, Saint Augustine — The opinion 
is at least not at variance with the voice of tradition — T?ns 
period of created existence may have been of indefinite length 
— A7id the earth may have been furnished then as now 
with countless tribes of plants and animals — Objections to 
this hypothesis proposed and explained. 




[HE opening verses of the Mosaic history may be 
' renderd thus literally from the Hebrew Text : — 
(i) " In the beginning God created the Heav- 
ens and the Earth. 

(2) ''And the Earth was waste and empty ; and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep ; and the spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters. 

(3) *'And God said, Let there be light; and there was 
light. 



Created Matter before the Mosaic Day. 301 

(4) "And God saw the light that it was good ; and God 
divided the light from the darkness. 

(5) "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he 
called Night. And the evening was, and the morning was, 
the first day." 

Now it appears to us that the great event with which this 
narrative begins, the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, 
is not represented as a part of the work that was accom- 
plished within the Six Days. It is not said that on the first day 
God created the Heavens and the Earth, but in the beginning. 
Besides, the Sacred writer, uniformly throughout the chap- 
ter, employs one and the same peculiar phrase to introduce 
the work of each successive day. In describing the opera- 
tions of God on the second day, he begins : ^'And God said, 
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters :" on 
the third day, ''And God said, Let the waters that are under 
the Heavens be gathered together into one place :" on the 
fourth, "■ And God said, Let there be lights in the firma- 
ment of the Heavens to divide the day frorri the night :" on 
the fifth, \' And God said, Let the waters bring forth the 
creeping thing having life :" on the sixth, ''And God said. 
Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind. " 
Hence, when we meet this same phrase for the first time in 
the third verse, "And God said, Let there be light," we may 
reasonably suppose that the work of the first day began with 
the decree which is set forth in these words. If so it plainly 
follows that we may allow the existence of created matter 
before that particular epoch of time which, in the language 
of Moses, is styled the First Day : for, before the creation of 
light, the Heavens and the Earth were already in existence, 
and the Earth was waste and empty, and darkness was upon 
the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the 
face of the waters. 

An objection is sometimes raised from the words of God 
in the promulgation of the third commandment ; — "Six 



302 Created Matter before the Mosaic Day. 

days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh 
day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God ; thou shalt do no 

work on it For in six days ihe Lord made the 

Heavens and ihe Earlh and the sea, and all that is in them, 
and restelih the seventh day. "* It is argued that the creation 
of the Heavens and the Earth is here set forth as a part 
of the work accomplished within the Six Days ; which is 
directly against our opinion. This difficulty would be 
simply insurmountable, if it could be proved that the text 
refers to that first ad of creation by which the Heavens and 
the Earth were brought into existence out of nothing. We 
think, however, that the phrase may fairly be understood to 
mean, in six days the Lord fashioned the Heavens and the 
Earth ; that is to say, gave to them that form and shape and 
outward" character which they now possess. In this sense 
the words would apply, not to the first act of creation out of 
nothing, but rather to that subsequent series of operations 
by which the Earth was fitted up and furnished for the use 
of man. 

And this interpretation is supported by the authority of 
our best Commentators. Perrerius formally discusses the 
point, and maintains that God may truly be said to have 
made the Heavens and the Earth in Six Days, although the 
Heavens and the Earth, as far as regards their substantial 
matter, had been created before the First Day ; for it was 
only within the Six Days that they were adorned and com- 
pleted and perfected. Tostatus is not less explicit. In this 
passage, he says, the word made is very properly employed ; 
for the Heavens and the Earth which are here referred to, 
and the other things that are included under this general 
designation, were all made from matter already existing, but 
this matter itself was not made, it was created. Petavius also 
adopts this view in his remarks upon the fourth verse of the 
second chapter of Genesis, f 

*Exodus, XX. 9-1 1. t Appendix (4), (5), (6). 



Heaven a7id Earth fashioned in Six Days. 303 

We may add that this mode of explaining the passage re- 
ceives no small support from the Hebrew text. When it is 
said, in the first chapter of Genesis, that " In the beginning 
God created the Heavens and the Earth," the word used by 
the Sacred writer is js^^^ [Bara), which strictly means to 
create out of nothing; whereas, in describing the operations 
of the Six Days, he commonly uses the word H'Dj? (Hasah), 
which means \o form 7iu<\ fashion, or to produce something 
out of pre-existing materials.* Now, in the text of Exodus 
we find the word ni2?3^ {Hasah), \.o fashion ox produce, and 
not the word Jj^'i^ {Bara), to create. We do not want to 
insist ver}^ jigorously upon this distinction between the two 
words i^l^ {Bara) and fs^T {Hasah), nor would we deny 
that they are sometimes interchanged as regards their mean- 
ing. We think they are related to one another pretty nearly 
as the corresponding words to create and to make in English, 
and we know that the distinction between these two words 
,is not always btricily observed. Thus, we sometimes say 
that God viade the world, meaning that he brought it forth 
from nothing, and we speak of the creation of peers ; and 
Shakspeare says: — 

" Now is the time of help j your eye in Scotland 
Would create soldiers, make our women fight 
To dofF their dire distresses," — Macbeth^ Act iv., Sc. ill. 

Nevertheless, when we compare two such passages as 
these : — "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the 
Earth," and "In Six Days the Lord viade the Heavens and 
the Earth and the sea, and all that in them is," we think the 
studied contrast Of expression is a fair ground for supposing 
that, while the one refers to the Divine decree by which 
matter was first brought into existence out of nothing, the 
other may be understood of those subsequent operations by 
which it received its present form and shape. 

* See Gesenius, sub vocibus. 



304 Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostoni, 

We see no difficulty, then, as far as the Sacred Text is 
concerned, in supposing a condition of created existence 
prior to the period of the Six Days. But since this opinion 
is the foundation on which our whole argument rests, we 
should wish to show, moreover, even at the risk of being 
tedious, that it has been put forward and defended by the 
most eminent writers in every age of the Church. Amongst 
the early Fathers, Saint Basil reasons after this manner 
when commenting upon the passage, ''There was evening 
and there was morning the first day:" — '.'The evening is 
the common term of day and night ; and, in like manner, 
the morning is the point of union between nigh^ and day. 
Wherefore, in order to signify that to the day belonged the 
prerogative of being the first begotten, the sacred writer first 
commemorates the close of day, and afterward the close of 
night ; implying thereby that the day was followed by the 
night. As to the condition of the world before the formation 
of light, that is not called Night, but simply Darkness; 
whereas that period which is distinguished from day and 
opposed to it, is called night." * This great Doctor, there- 
fore, teaches that the First Day began with a period of light 
which is called day, and ended with a period of darkness 
which is called night ; and he recognizes a previous state 
of existence which was no part of the First Day. 'So, too, 
Saint Chrysostom, in his third Homily upon Genesis, lays 
down that the Earth was first created a rude and shapeless 
mass, without form or ornament ; that afterward light was 
made, and that, with the creation of light, the First Day 
began. \ 

In the Western Church, Saint Ambrose adopts the same 
line of interpretation. He sets forth that God first created 
the world, in the beginning ; and afterward during the 
Six Days furnished and adorned it ; just as a skilful work- 
man first lays the foundation of a building, and afterward 

* Appendix (7). f Appendix (8). 



Saint Ambrose and Ve7ierable Bede. 3o5 

raises the superstructure, and superadds the ornament. 
And elsewhere, he says that, when the voice of God went 
forth, "Let light be made," in the same moment the First 
Day began. It follows, therefore, that the world existed 
before the beginning of the First Day. In another place 
he gives a new turn to the same idea, telling us that in 
the beginning God made the world ; and with the world, 
time began. But not with time did the First Day begin : 
for the First Day is not the beginning of time, it is rather 
an epoch of time.* 

Passing on to the middle ages, we find our view sup- 
ported by the authority of Venerable Bede, in several parts 
of his writings. His notion is that, during the Six Days, 
God formed and fashioned the \vorld out of shapeless 
matter ; but, before the Six Days began, He had made 
this shapeless matter itself out of nothing. "Two things," 
he says, "did God make before all days, the angelical 
nature, and shapeless matter. And again, he dresses up 
this opinion in the form of a dialogue: — "■Disciple. Tell 
me the order in which things were made throughout the 
Six Days } Masler. First, in the very beginning of created 
existence, were made heaven and earth, the angels, air, 
and water. Disciple. Continue the order of creation.? 
Masler. In ihe beginning of Ihe Fir si Day light was made ; 
on the second was made the firmament," etc.f Nothing 
can be more plain than the distinction here set up between 
the beginning of all time, when the Heavens and the Earth 
were made, and the beginning of the First Day, when light 
was made. 

And when we come to still more recent times, we find 
this interpretation was taken up and defended by the great 
masters in the schools of Theology. Peter Lombard, the 
famous Magister Sententiarum, referring to the first verse 
of Genesis, says that "in the beginning God created 

* Appendix (9). -j- Appendix (10). 



3o6 Peter Lombard, Hugh of Saint Victor. 

Heaven, which means the Angels, and the Earth, which 
means confused and unshapely matter, the same that is 
called Chaos by the Greeks ; and this was he/ore any day." 
Not less clearly speaks out Hugh of Saint Victor, who for 
his profound and varied erudition, was called the second 
Augustine. In explaining the history of the Six Days, he 
says I *' The first of the Divine operations was the creation 
of light. But the light was not then created from nothing, 
it was formed from pre-existing matter. This was the work 
that was accomplished on the First Day : but the material 
of this work had been created before the First Day. Directly 
with the light the day began ; for before the light it was 
neither night or day, though time already existed." * 

Later still, St. Thomas himself clearly leans to this view 
when he says : **It is better to maintain that the creation 
was before any day." And Perrerius, the most learned, 
perhaps, of all our commentators on Genesis, argues with 
us that the world v/as created before the production of light, 
and before the commencement of the First Day. Nay, he 
adds that he cannot tell how long that primeval state of 
existence may have endured before the Six Days began; 
nor does he think it can be known except by a special 
revelation. Petavius, too, is with us. He does not indeed 
accept our interpretation of the first verse. When it is 
said, "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the 
Earth," he holds that these words do not describe any 
one particular act of God, but represent, as it were in a 
brief summary, the whole work of creation. Thus we are 
informed, at the outset, that the Heavens and the Earth as 
we see them now are the work of God ; and afterward, the 
various parts that make up this great whole are described, 
and the order in which they were accomplished is set forth. 
According to Patavius, then, the creation of the Heavens 
and the Earth, recorded in the first verse, was not a distinct 
* Appendix (ii) (ra^l. 



A Lapide, Tostatus. 307 

act from the operations of the Six Days, but rather includes 
them all. Nevertheless, he maintains, as we do, that the 
earth, at least, and water, were in existence before the 
creation of light; and that, therefore, some period of time 
must have elapsed before the beginning of the Six Days. 
Furthermore, he says in the same spirit as Perrerius, that 
it is beyond our power to conjecture how long that period 
may have lasted.* 

Our opinion, then, is not open, in the slightest degree, 
to the imputation of novelty or singularity. On the con- 
trary, it would seem rather to reflect the prevailing tradition 
of the Church. We think it right, however, to add that 
there are great names against us. A Lapide, for instance, 
who considers that the Heavens and the Earth were created 
at the beginning of the First Day.f And Tostatus, who 
incidentally notices our view, and contents himself with 
saying that it is unreasonable. For himself he seems to 
waver between two opinions. He thinks the primeval 
darkness, described in the second verse, may have been the 
night belonging to the First Day ; and that during that 
night, which probably lasted about twelve hours, we may 
suppose the Heavens and the Earth to have been created. 
Or else, he says, we may allow that the First Day of the 
Mosaic narrative began with the creation of light ; but in 
that case we must hold that the Heavens and the Earth 
were created at the same time with light.J 

Saint Augustine, too, we must reluctantly give up ; or, 
at least, we must be content to regard him as neutral. If 
he is not a decided opponent, he is certainly not a consist- 
ent advocate, of our opinion. No doubt he is of en quoted 
in its favor ; and it would be easy to select passages from 
.his works which seem to enforce it in the plainest terms. 
As for example: "In the beginning, O my God, before 

* Appendix (13) (14) (15). f Appendix (16). \ In Genes, cap. i. Quaest. xiv. 



3o8 Singular Opinion of Saint Augustine, 

any day. Thou didst make the Heavens and the Earth."* 
But, in truth, this opinion is utterly irreconcilable with the 
well known and very singular teaching of Saint Augustine 
concerning the creation of the world. He held that all the 
great works recounted in the first chapter of Genesis were, 
in fact, accomplished in a single instant. There was no 
real succession, according to him, in the order of time, 
between the production of the Heavens and the Earth, of 
light and the firmament, of the sun, moon, and stars, 
of plants, trees, and animals. In one and the same instant 
of time all these came into existence together. As to the 
description given by Moses, it is accommodated to the 
capacity of a rude people ; and the succession there set 
forth is intended only to exhibit the several parts of a great 
whole, in the manner best suited to the conceptions of 
human intelligence, f 

This view of the creation is repeated again and again by 
Saint Augustine in his numerous works upon Genesis, and 
illustrated in diverse ways, so as to leave no doubt that he 
held it deliberately and persistently. With regard to such 
passages as that quoted above, in which he says that God 
created the Heavens and the Earth before any day, it may 
be maintained that Saint Augustine was not always con- 
sistent with himself, and that he held different opinions at 
different times ; or even that he put forward opposite opin- 
ions at the same time, not setting them forth as true, but 
only as possible and legitimate. J 

We think, however, that his consistency, in this case at 
least, can be defended, and that he has himself sufficiently 

* Appendix (17). 

•j- See his various works upon Genesis, passim ; in particular de Genesi 
ad Literam, Lib. i. cap. xv., Lib. iv. cap. xxxiii. ;• De Genesi Liber Im- 
perfectus, cap. vii. and cap. ix. 

% This latter view might be fairly maintained in conformity with the 
principles which Saint Augustine professes to follow in the interpretation 
of Genesis. See De Genesi ad Literam, Lib. i. cap. xxi. and cap. xxii. 



Co7isistency of Saint Augustine defended. 309 

explained in what sense he wished these passages to be 
understood. He tells us that we must distinguish two 
kinds of succession : succession in the order of time, and 
succession in the order of our conceptions. Thus, for ex- 
ample, in the order of time there is no succession between 
the sound of the voice in singing and the musical note 
that is sung : the sound is, in fact, the note, and the note 
is the sound. But in the order of our conceptions we first 
apprehend a thing according to its substance, and then ac- 
cording to its qualities. We first conceive the sound itself, 
as a sound, and then we conceive it as having that peculiar 
quality which makes it a musical note. Such as this is the 
succession Saint Augustine seems to admit in the order of 
the creation. He tells us, no doubt, that God first created 
shapeless matter, and afterward gave to it form and beauty : 
and certainly this statement, if standing alone, would, ac- 
cording to the ordinary use of language, imply a real suc- 
cession in the order of time. But then, a little further on, 
he expressly repudiates the idea of a succession in point of 
time, and says that the priority he ascribes to shapeless 
matter is only a priority in the order of our conceptions. 
We must first conceive matter to exist before we can con- 
ceive it to have this or that particular form ; and the In- 
spired Writer follows the order of our conceptions, in order 
to adapt his narrative to the mental feebleness of our present 
condition.* 

With the truth or falsehood of these views we are not 
concerned just now. We have dwelt upon them rather 
from an honest desire of showing that Saint Augustine is 
not so clearly on our side in this question, as might be 
supposed from some isolated passages of his writings. He 
says indeed that the world was created before light, and 
before the beginning of the First Day ; but then again he 

* See De Genesi ad Literam, Lib. i. cap. xv. ; De Genesi Liber Imper- 
fectus, cap. vii. ; Confess., Lib. xii. cap, xxix. 



3 lo Du7'ation of the Pre- Historic Age, 

tells us that this is only a way of speaking, and that, in 
reality, all things were created together. 

But although these high authorities — A Lapide, Tos- 
tatus, Saint Augustine — and some others less illustrious 
than these, are unfavorable to our interpretation, we think 
it is supported by a preponderance of the best interpreters, 
both in ancient and modern times. At all events, with 
such an array of venerable names as we have been able to 
bring forward in its behalf, — and they are but a few chosen 
out of many, — no one can deny that we are fairly entitled 
to hold it without any note of censure, without any sus- 
picion of Theological error. Setting out, then, from this 
point, that there was a state of created existence prior to 
the Six Days of the Mosaic history, the question naturally 
arises, how long did that state of existence endure ? ' Was 
it for an hour? a day.? a week.? a month.? a century.? a 
million of years .? We cannot tell. To these questions 
the Sacred Text gives no reply. It simply records that in 
the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and 
that, at some subsequent epoch of time. His decree again 
went forth. Let there be light, and light there was. One 
thing, hovv^ever, is plain, that, if this period existed at all, 
it might just as well have lasted a hundred millions of years 
as a ' hundred seconds. It would be folly to attempt to 
measure the succession of God's acts, when he does please 
to produce effects in succession, according to our petty 
standards of time. "One day with the Lord is as a thou- 
sand years, and a thousand years as one day."* 

And it is not a little remarkable that, long before the 
discoveries of Geology had suggested any necessity for 
allowing the lapse of many ages between the first creation 
of the world and the creation of man, th-e sagacity of our 
commentators led them to observe that the duration of this 
interval is left undefined in the Sacred Record. "How 

* 2 Peter, iii. 8. 



''■A Thousa7id Years as One Day!' 31 1 

long that interval may have lasted," says Petavius, ''it is 
absolutely impossible to conjecture." And Pererius, as we 
have seen, declared that it could not be known except by a 
special revelation. And five centuries earlier, at the very 
dawn of Scholastic Theology, Hugh of Saint Victor raised 
the same question, and expressed his opinion that it could 
not be solved from Scripture. Citing the passage, In the 
beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, he 
says, "From these words it is plain that in the beginning 
of time, or rather with time itself, the original matter of all 
things came into existence. But how long it remained in 
this confused and unshapely condition the Scripture clearly 
does not tell us."* 

We may go further still. If we are at liberty to admit 
an interval of indefinite length between the creation of the 
world and the work of the Six Days, there is certainly 
nothing which forbids us to suppose that, during this 
period, the earth should have undergone many revolutions, 
and have been peopled by countless tribes of plants and 
animals, which, as age rolled on after age, came into ex- 
istence, and died out, and were succeeded by new crea- 
tions. We cannot, perhaps, see the use of all this, nor can 
we penetrate the motives the Great Creator might have had 
in bringing into existence such a boundless profusion of 
organic life. Granted : but then we have studied the 
Sacred Text to little purpose if we have not yet realized the 
solemn truth that, to our poor and feeble intellects. His 
judgments are incomprehensible, and his ways unsearch- 
able. Did He not set His stars in the remotest regions of 
space, far beyond the reach of unaided human vision, and 
did they not shine there for ages, though man could see 
them not.? And for ages, too, did not the wild flowers 
spring up, and bloom, and decay, in many a fair and 
favored spot of this beautiful Earth, where there was none to 

* Appendix (i8) (19) (20). 



3 1 2 The Ways of God are unsearchable. 

admire their splendor, none to inhale their sweetness ? Then 
again, look at that marvellous kingdom of minute ani- 
malcules, in number almost infinite, which only within the 
last few years the microscope has revealed to our wonder- 
ing eyes. They swarm around us in the air, in the earth, 
in the water. Millions of them would fit in the hollow of 
your hand ; many hundreds might swim side by side, 
without crowding, through the eye of a cambric needle. 
And they too, we can hardly doubt, must have flourished 
for centuries in countless myriads, unseen and unknown by 
man. It is impossible for us, in our present imperfect 
state, to understand the motives of an All-wise Creator in 
this profuse expenditure of his goodness, this lavish display 
of His power. How then can we presume to say that He 
may not have good reasons, though inscrutable to us, for 
peopling this Earth with many tribes of plants and animals, 
through a long cycle of ages, before it pleased Him to fit 
it up for the habitation of man ? "Who is he among men 
that can know the counsel of God ? or who can find out 
His designs 1 For the judgments of mortal men are hesi- 
tating, and uncertain are our thoughts. For the corrupt- 
ible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly dwelling 
presseth down the mind that museth upon many things. 
And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon 
earth : and with labor do we find the things that are before 
us. But the things that are in heaven who shall search 
out?"* 

We have heard it sometimes objected that plants and 
animals could not have existed without light ; and that 
light was not created until the beginning of the First Mo- 
saic Day. Many curious and interesting facts are adduced 
in support of this argument. For example, we are re- 
minded that certain Fossil animals belonging to the earliest 

* Wisdom, ix. 13-16. 



Existence of Light and Air, 313 

Geological Periods, are shown by the clearest evidence, to 
have had eyes constructed on the same optical principles, 
and accommodated to the same optical conditions, as the eyes 
of those animals that have flourished on the Earth during 
the period of history : and such eyes, it is contended, 
plainly import the existence of light. The answer to this 
objection may be stated in a very few words. We freely 
admit that the hypothesis we have been defending would 
be of litde use to account for Geological phenomena, if it 
did not include the existence of light, during that Period of 
indefinite duration which we suppose to have elapsed be- 
tween the first creation of the world and the work of the 
Six Days. But in truth there is no difficulty in supposing 
that, during such an interval, light may have prevailed upon 
the earth, and air, and all the other conditions of organic 
life, pretty much as they do at the present day. Afterward, 
at the close of the period, when, perhaps, ages innumera- 
ble had rolled by, this planet of ours would have appeared 
in that condition which is described in the second verse of 
Genesis : ''And the earth was waste and empty, and dark- 
ness was upon the face of the deep." Then the command 
of God would have gone forth, "Let there be light:" and 
at once the darkness would have been dispelled, a new era 
of existence would have commenced, and the Earth would 
forthwith have been set in order and furnished, in a special 
manner, for the habitation of man. 

Even as regards the Sun, Moon, and Stars, they too may 
have existed before the work of the Six Days began. We 
read, no doubt, that on the Fourth Day, God said, "Let 
there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the 
day from the night:" and a little farther on it is added that 
"God made two great lights; the greater liglit to rule the 
day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars." 
But then it must be remembered that some of our best 

14 



3 1 4 Moses does 7ict lead tts into Error, 

Commentators, without any reference to Geology, have 
taught that, before this command was given, the heavenly 
bodies were already in existence for three days, and were 
already discharging the office of dividing day and night. 
They explain the passage by saying that the Sun, Moon, 
and Stars, are represented as having been made on the 
Fourth Day, not because they were then produced for the first 
time out of nothing, but because the vapors by which they 
had been obscured were, on that Day, dissipated, and they 
began to shine visibly in the Firmament of Heaven. If 
this line of interpretation is admissible, and it seems to us not 
unreasonable, then we are certainly at liberty to hold, con- 
sistently with the Mosaic narrative, that the Heavenly bodies 
may have been created with the Heavens and the Earth in 
the beginning of all time ; and that on the Fourth Day 
they were made manifest in the Firmament to rule over the 
day and the night, and to regulate the course of the years 
and the seasons. * 

Again it is urged against our hypothesis that Moses could , 
not have passed over in complete silence such a long and 
eventful era in the history of the world. Certainly not, we 
admit, if he professed to write a complete history of the 
Earth and all its revolutions. But this was not his pur- 
pose. Every book, whether sacred or profane, must be 
examined and interpreted according to the end for which 
it was designed. Now the end and scope of the Book of 
Genesis was not to instruct mankind about the movements 
of the heavenly bodies, or the physical changes of the 
Earth's surface, or the laws which govern the material uni- 
verse. It WIS, first of all, to impress on the minds of the 
Jewish people that this world of ours is the work of one 
only God, dis'tinct from all creatures, and Himself the 

* See Pianciani,' Cosmogonia, pp. 384-90. 



He only leaves tts in Ignorance, 3 1 5 

Creator of sun, moon, and stars, and of every other object 
which pagan nations were wont to worship : and in the 
next place, to set forth, briefly and simply, the story of 
God's dealings with man in the first ages of the human 
race. Whatever we may hold, therefore, about the revolu- 
tions and changes of the Earth's surface previous to the 
work of the Six Days, it is plain that the history of these 
phenomena did not appertain to the object which the 
Sacred writer had in view. Consequently he cannot 
be said, by the omission of these events, to lead 
his readers into error ; he simply allows them to remain 
in ignorance. What it was his purpose to tell, he tells 
truly : what did not belong to his purpose, he passes by in 
silence. 

But it is further argued that this long interval of time we 
have been contending for, is incompatible with the use of 
the copulative conjunction, by which the several clauses of 
the narrative are connected together. The Sacred text runs 
thus: — "In the beginning God created the Heavens and 
the Earth. And the Earth was waste and empty: and dark- 
ness was upon the face of the deep ; and the spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there 
be light ; and there was light." Is it possible, we are asked, 
to admit a period of indefinite length between events thus 
closely linked together ? Our answer is that, according to 
the idiom of the Hebrew language, the conjunction ]* or '' {ve 
or Tja), which is here employed, while it serves to connect 
together the clauses of a narrative, does not of necessity 
imply the immediate succession of the events recorded. 
The very wide and indefinite signification which belongs 
to this little particle is well known to all who are 
familiar With the Hebrew text. It is sometimes copu- 
lative, sometimes adversative, sometimes disjunctive, some- 
times causal. Very frequently it is used simply for the 



3 1 6 The Hebrew Particle "l. 

purpose oi continuing the discourse ;'^ and this we believe is 
the true force of the word in the passage under discussion. 

An example very much to the point occurs in the Book 
of Numbers, twentieth chapter and first verse ; — '^And the 
children of Isarel, the whole congregation came into the 
desert of Sin/' Here the narrative opens with the connect- 
ing particle -i i-n'l^n'b'D b^M^'^'^li'l IS^inn- And yet 
the reader will find, if he carefully examine the passage, that 
the event thus introduced by the sacred writer was separated 
by a period of eight-and-thirty years from those which had 
been related in the preceding chapter. This conjunction, 
therefore, does not exclude an interval of eight-and-thirty 
years between the events which it links together in history. 
And that being so, there is no good reason for supposing 
that it should, of necessity, exclude an interval of indefinite 
length. 

The Weakness of this objection may be made even more 
strikingly manifest by an inspection of the opening words in 
the first chapter of Ezechiel : — ^"^W D'^^btlJi '^n"''^- ^^ 
little did the notion prevail that the conjunction ■) (ve) could 
be used only to connect together events closely associated in 
point of time, that here it actually begins the narrative, and 
is, in fact, the first word of the whole book. In the Douay 
version the passage'is not inaptly rendered after this manner : 
*' Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth 
month, on the fifth day of the month, whenT was in the 
midst of the captives by the River Chobar, the heavens were 
opened, and I saw the visions of God." 

We have now brought to a conclusion the first part of 
our inquiry. We have endeavored to show that there is 

* See Gesenius, Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to' the Old Testament 
Scriptures ; in voce. He thus explains the first meaning of this word : 
" copulati've^ and serves to connect both words and sentences, especially in 
continuing a discourse^ 



The Hebrew Particle \ 317 

nothing in Scripture or Tradition which forbids us to admit 
a long interval of time between the Creation of the wOrld 
and the work of the Six Days. It remains to examine what 
was the nature of these Six Days themselves. Were they, as 
Saint Augustine maintained, one single indivisible instant 
of time ? or were they days of twenty-four hours, as is more 
commonly supposed ? or were they simply periods of time 
of which the duration is left wholly undetermined in the 
Sacred Text ? 




CHAPTER XX. 



SECOND HYPOTHESIS 



-THE DAYS OF CREATION LONG PERIODS 
OF TIME. 



Diversity of opinion among the early fathers regarditig the 
days of creation — Saint Augustine, Philo Judceics, Clement 
of Alexandria, Origen, Saint Athattasius, Saint Eucherius, 
Procopius — Albertus Magnus, Saint Thomas, Cardinal Ca- 
ietan — Inference from these testimonies — First a^-gument 
in favor of the popitlar intejpr elation; a day, in the literal 
sense, meajis a period of twenty-four hours — Answer — This 
word often used in Scripture for an indefinite period — 
Examples from the Old and New Testament — Second argu- 
ment ; the days of cj'eatioit have an evening and a morning 
— Answer — Interpretation of Saint Augustine, Venerable 
Bede, and other fathers of the church — Third argument j . 
the reason alleged for the institution of- the Sabbath-day — 
Answer — The law of the Sabbath extended to every sevejith 
year as well as to every seventh day — The seventh, day of 
God^s rest a long period of indefitiite duration. 




O one who will take the trouble to investigate, with 
any reasonable diligence and research, the nature of 
the Mosaic Days, can fail to be struck with the re- 
markable diversity of opinion that existed on the subject 
among the early Fathers of the Church. Yet this diversity of 
opinion is often overlooked by modern writers. They fancy 
that the meaning of the word Day is so plain as to leave no 
room for doubt or controversy ; that a day can be nothing 
else than a period of twenty-four hours, marked by the suc- 
cession of lii^ht and darkness ; and that in this sense the 



Me a n ing of the Mosa ic Days. 3 1 9 

Mosaic narrative was universally understood until quite 
recently, when a new explanation was invented, to meet the 
requirements of modern science. All this is far from true. 
The meaning of the Mosaic Days has been, in point of fact, 
a subject of controversy from the earliest times. And Saint 
Augustine tells us that the question appeared to him so 
difficult that he could pronounce no decisive judgment 
upon it. "As to these Days," he says, "what kind they 
were, it is very difficult, nay, it is impossible to imagine, and 
much more so to explain."* 

Nevertheless, this great Doctor, having long pondered 
over the subject, and considered it on many sides, does not 
hesitate to express his own opinion. And he departs very 
widely, indeed, from the literal and obvious interpretation. 
He maintains, at great length, f as we had before occasion 
to observe, that God created all things in a single instant 
of time, according to the words of Ecclesiasticus, "He 
who liveth forever created all things at once." J Thus he 
is led to infer that the Six Days commemorated by Moses 
were, in reality, but one day; and this not such a day as 
those which are now measured by the revolution of the 
sun, for we find three successive days recorded by Moses 
before the sun appeared in the Heavens. It was, in fact, 
nothing else than that one single instant of time in which 
all things were created together. § 

Nor was this opinion peculiar to Saint Augustine. At 
the very dawn of the Christian Era it was set forth by Philo 
the Jew ; and afterward it was maintained by Clement of 
Alexandria, and by Origen. The great Saint Athanasius 
seems to throw the weight of his authority in the same 

* Appendix (21). 

\ See De Genesi ad Literam, Lib. iv. capp. xxvl.-xxxv., Lib. v. cap. i. 
n. 3, and cap. iii. n. 6. 
J Ecclesiasticus, xviii. i. 
I Appendix (22). 



320 Figtirative hiterpretation adopted 

direction, when he says, speaking of the Creation, that 
*'no one thing was made before another, but all things 
were produced at once together by the self-same command." 
And after the time of Saint Augustine this figurative inter- 
pretation was defended by Saint Eucherius, Bishop of 
Lyons, in the course of the fifth century, and by Procopius 
of Gaza in the sixth. In the days of the schools we find it 
approved by Albertus Magnus, and treated respectfully by 
Saint Thomas ; and later still, adopted by Cardinal Cajetan, 
in his commentary on the Book of Genesis.* 

It will be said, perhaps, that we are here arguing against 
ourselves : these eminent writers are in favor of reducing the 
days of Creation to one single point of time ; whereas it 
is our purpose to stretch them out to periods of indefi- 
nite length. But no : our object just now is not precisely 
to establish our own hypothesis, but rather to prepare 
the way for its discussion. We want to show that we 
are quite free to abandon the popular view of the Mosaic 
Days if there be good reason for our doing so. And it 
seems to us that we have abundantly established this point 
by a long list of eminent ecclesiastical writers, who, with- 
out any note of censure, have diverged very widely from 
the common interpretation. No doubt they have shortened 
the time, and we want to lengthen it. But in this they 
agree with us, that the days of Creation are not of necessity 
days in the ordinary sense of the word. Nay, Saint Augus- 
tine goes farther, and maintains, from the evidence of the 
Sacred Text itself, that they cannot be understood in this 
sense, f 

Having"thus cleared away a serious difficulty that seemed 
to obstruct our path, we m'ay proceed without hesitation to 
the direct object of our inquiry. The burden of proof, let 

* Appendix (23) (24) ^25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31). 
f See De Genesi ad Literam, Lib. iv. capp. xxvi., xxvii. ; also Lib. i. 
capp, X., xi., xii. 



by many of the early Fathers. 321 

it be remembered, is not with us, but rather with those who 
contend for Days of twenty-four hours. They must prove 
that this word Day in the first chapter of Genesis means a 
period of twenty-four hours, and can mean nothing else. If 
it may be understood in a wider sense, consistently with the 
usage of Scripture, that is quite enough for us. We are 
perfectly at liberty to adopt an interpretation which, on the 
one hand, the Sacred Text fairly admits, and on the other, 
the discoveries of Natural Science would seem to demand. 
Let us examine, then, the arguments that are usually 
adduced in favor of the popular interpretation. 

Throughout the first chapter of Genesis the Hebrew 
word Q-jn {yo7n) is everywhere employed by Moses to des- 
ignate the Days of Creation. And many writers contend 
that the use of this word is, in itself, evidence enough that 
he spoke of days in the common sense of the term. It is 
plain, they say, from the usage of Scripture, that the 
word t]i'n {yom) had a fixed and certain meaning in the 
Hebrew language ; the same precisely as that which we now 
attach to the English word Day. Sometimes, when contra- 
distinguished from night, it was applied to the period of 
light, from sunrise to sunset ; otherwise, it meant the civil 
day of twenty-four hours, measured by the revolution of 
the Sun. Moreover, it had unquestionably attained this 
meaning at the time when Moses wrote, and therefore it 
could not have been employed by him in any other sense. 

This argument rests upon a false foundation. It is true, 
no doubt, that the word l^-ji {yom) was more usually em- 
ployed in one or other of the two senses just explained ; — 
that is to say, ( i ) for the period of light from sunrise to 
sunset, or (2) for the period of twenty-four hours corre- 
sponding to a complete revolution of the Sun. But, for 
the validity of the argument, it would be necessary to show 
that, beside these two senses, there is no other in which the 
word may be fairly understood, conformably to the usage 

14* 



32 2 The Scriptitrc Day an indefinite Pei'iod. 

of the Hebrew language. Now this has never yet been 
proved. On the contrary, the Scripture affords abundant 
evidence that the word Q"ji {yofn) had a third meaning 
quite different from the other two ; that it was freely used 
to designate a period of time much longer than a common 
day, and generally of uncertain and indefinite duration. A 
few examples will be interesting, we hope, to our readers. 

In the second chapter of Genesis, Moses, having com- 
pleted his account of the Creation, says (v. 4) : "These 
are the generations of the Heavens and the Earth when 
they were created, in the Day (Q^'i, yom) that the Lord 
God created the Earth and the Heavens : (v. 5), and every 
plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb 
of the field before it grew." There is a good deal of con- 
troversy about the precise meaning of this passage. .But 
one thing at least appears to be plain, that the word q-^t . 
iyom), is not used to designate a day of twenty-four hours ; 
nor yet the period of light from sunrise to sunset; but 
rather the whole period of the Creation. 

On this point almost all our best commentators are 
agreed. *' It is manifest," says Venerable Bede, " that in, 
this place the sacred writer has put the word Day for all 
that time during which the primeval creation was brought 
into existence. For it was not upon any one of the Six 
Days that the sky was made and adorned with stars, and 
the dry land was separated from the waters, and furnished 
with trees and plants. But, according io its accustomed 
practice. Scripture here uses the word day in the sense of 
time." Saint Augustine gives even a wider expansion to 
the word when he writes: '* Seven Days are enumerated 
above, and now that is called one Day in which God, made 
the Heavens and the Earth, and every green thing of the 
field ; by which term we may well suppose that all time is 
meant. For God then made all time when He made 
creatures that live in time : and these creatures are here 



Example from Genesis, 2)^3 

signified by the Heavens and the Earth." Molina on the 
same passage says: "Learned writers tell us commonly 
that Moses in this place puts the word Day in the sense of 
Time, just as in the passage of Deuteronomy, ' The day of 
perdition is at hand/ . . . And elsewhere in Scripture Day 
is often used for Time." Bannez, too, concurs in this 
opinion. ''The word Day," he says, " can be understood 
/or any duration whatsoever.'' Perrerius, answering an 
objection taken from this text, says that ** Day is put for 
Time, as \'s> frequently done in Scripture." And Patavius 
not only adopts this interpretation, but contends that it is 
conformable to the usage even of the Greek and Latin 
writers. He gives an example from Cicero against Verres : 
*'Itaque cum ego diem in Siciliam perexiguam postula- 
vissem, invenit iste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviore?}i diem 
postularet."* Here, then, is an instance in which Moses 
himself uses the word Day (tDl"", >'^^0 ^^^ i^ ^^ ordinary 
sense, but for a long period of time ; — for all that time, 
whatever it may have been, which elapsed from the first 
act of creation to the close of the Six Days. 

Another striking example occurs in the prophet Amos. 
"Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord God, and I 
will send forth a famine into the land : not a famine of 
bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the 
Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and fi-om 
the north to the east ; they shall go about seeking the 
word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day (^-ji, 
yoiii) shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for 
thirst, "f Every one will see at a glance that the word Day 
in the latter part of this passage does not mean a day of 
twenty-four hours. It evidently refers to the whole period 
during which the calamities here foretold were to be inflicted 
on the Jewish people. What that period was may be a 

* Appendix (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37). 
t Amos, viii. ii, 12. 



324 Examples from the Prophets, 

question of dispute. By some it is taken for the time 
of the Babylonian captivity ; by others, for the present age 
of the world, in which the Jews are wanderers on the face 
of the earth, without a prophet and without a pastor, thirst- 
ing for the word of God, and seeking it in vain. But, in 
any case, it is clear from the opening words : " Behold, the 
days are coming," that it was a.period not of one day only, 
but of many. 

Then we have those well known words addressed by 
God the Father to His Eternal Son: "Thou art my Son, 
this day {^y^, yoni) have I begotten thee."* The Son of 
God was begotten of the Father before all ages ; and the 
day, therefore, on which he was begotten, cannot be a 
common day of twenty-four hours, but must rather be the 
long day of Eternity, without beginning and without end. 

This text, we know, is sometimes applied to the day of 
our Lord's Resurrection ; and sometimes, too, to the day 
of His Incarnation : nor do we want to deny that it may be 
thus rightly explained in a secondary and mystical sense. 
But in its literal sense we think it plainly refers to the 
Eternal Generation of the Son. This meaning is suffici- 
ently implied by the word begotten, which cannot be under- 
stood with propriety, except of that Generation by virtue of 
which our Divine Lord was from Eternity the natural Son 
of God. Moreover, this is the sense in which the passage 
is adopted by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews. 
Wishing to show that Our Lord has received by inheritance 
a name more excellent than any given to the Angels, he 
argues thus : " For to which of the Angels hath he said at 
any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
thee.?"f Now it seems to us that, unless we understand 
these words of the Eternal Generation, the point of the 
Apostle's argument is completely lost. The Angels are 
sometimes called in Scripture the sons of God ; but they 

* Psaim ii. 7. . t Heb. i. 5. 



Day used for the season of Tribulation, 326 

were only the adopted sons, whereas Our Lord was the 
natural Son in virtue of His Eternal Generation. Conse- 
quently it was no other than the Eternal Generation which 
made the name of Son more excellent when applied to 
Christ than the same name when applied to the angels. 

Again, it is quite a common thing, with the prophets 
generally, to use the word Q-ji {yam) for the season of tribu- 
lation and affliction, though the same may have extended 
over a period of many days or even many years. Jeremias 
employs it in this sense when he describes so vividly the 
manifold calamities that were impending over the ill- 
fated Babylon. "I have caused thee to fall into a snare, 
and thou art taken, Babylon, and thou wast not aware 
of it : thou art found and caught because thou hast pro- 
voked the Lord. The Lord hath opened His armory, 
and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath : for the 
Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land 
of the Chaldeans. Come ye against her from the uttermost 
borders : open, that they may go forth that shall tread her 
down : take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, 
and destroy her : and let nothing of her be left. Destroy 
all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter : 
woe to them, for their day {^"^y^, yom) is come, the time of 
their visitation. The voice of them that flee, and of them 
that have escaped out of the land of Babylon : to declare 
in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God, the revenge of 
His temple. Declare to many against Babylon, to all that 
bend the bow : stand together against her round about, and 
let none escape ; pay her according to her work : according 
to all that she hath done, do ye to her : for she hath lifted 
up herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. 
Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets : and all 
her men of war shall hold their peace in that day (Q"j"i, yoni), 
saith the Lord. Behold I come against thee, O proud one, 
sailh the Lord the God of hosts: for the day (Ql'i,^'^^) is 



326 The period of a long Campaign 

come, the iivie of thy visitation. And the proud one shall 
fall, he shall fall down, and there shall be none to lift him 
up : and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall 
devour all round about him."* And in the following 
chapter : — '-'Thus saith the Lord : Behold, I will raise up 
as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon, and against 
the inhabitants thereof who have lifted up their heart against 
me. And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall 
fan her, and shall destroy her land : for they are come 
upon her on every side in the day (l3"j"i, yoni) of her 
affliction."! 

In another place -the same prophet applies the word ]3"j"i 
{yom) to the whole duration of a long campaign carried on 
by Nabuchodonosor against Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt. 
"Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth, to 
battle. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen : 
stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats 
of mail. What then .? I have seen them dismayed, and 
turning their backs, their valiant ones slain : they fled 
apace, they looked not back : terror was round about, saith 
the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong 
think to escape : they are overthrown and fallen down, 
toward the north by the river Euphrates. Who is this that 
cometh up as a flood : and his streams swell like those of 
rivers 1 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof 
shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say : I v/ill go up 
and will cover the earth : I will destroy the city and its in- 
habitants. Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, 
and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians and the 
Lybians, that handle the shield, and the Lydians that 
handle and bend the bow. For this is the day (tDlij. J'"^^) 
of the Lord the God of hosts; a day of vengeance that He 
may revenge Himself of His enemies : the sword shall de- 
vour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their 

* Jeremias, cap. 1. vv. 24-32. f Jeremlas, li. 1, 2. 



called a Day i7i Scripture. 327 

blood : for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in 
the north country, by the river Euphrates. . . , Furnish 
thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of 
Egypt : for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be 
forsaken and uninhabited. Egypt is like a fair and beau- 
tiful heifer : there shall come from the north one that shall 
goad her. Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of 
her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away 
together, and they could not stand : for the day (Qi'i, J^'<57^^) 
of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their 
visitation."* 

The prophet Ezechiel, too, furnishes a forcible illustra- 
tion when he thus foreshadows the course of a second ex- 
pedition against Egypt undertaken by the same prince : — 
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will set 
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon in the land of Egypt : 
and he shall take her multitude, and take the booty thereof 
for a prey, and rifle the spoils thereof: and it shall be 
wages for his army ; and for the service he hath done me 
against it : I have given him the land of Egypt, because he 
hath labored for me, saith the Lord God. In that day 
(DTj jf^t??) a horn shall bud forth for the house of Israel, 
and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them : 
and they shall know that I am the Lord. " f And a little 
further on : — "For the day (Qii,>w^O i^ near, yea the day 
of the Lord is near : a cloudy day, it shall be the iime of 
the nations. And the sword shall come upon Egypt : and 
there shall be dread in Ethiopia, when the wounded shall 
fall in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken 
away, and the foundations thereof shall be destroyed. 
Ethiopia and Lybia, and Lydia, and all the rest of the 
crowd, and Chub, and the children of the land of the cove- 
nant, shall fall with them by the sword. . . . And they 
shall know that I am the Lord : when I shall have set a 

* Jeremias, xlvi. 3-10, 19-21. f Ezechiel, xxix. 19-21. 



328 The word Day applied to 

fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed. 
In that day (tDi"", J^^^^, shall messengers go forth from my 
face in ships to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and 
there shall be dread among them in that day {^'^, yom) of 
Egypt : because it shall certainly come. " * 

Once more, this word is applied to the period of Our 
Lord's life upon earth, and even to the whole duration of 
the Christain Church. Sophonias, for example, thus fore- 
tells the coming of the kingdom of Christ. ''Wherefore 
expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection 
that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, 

and to gather the kingdoms From beyond the 

rivers of Ethiopia shall my suppliants, the children of my 
dispersed people, bring me an offering. In that day (tD"ji, 
yovi) thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein 
thou hast transgressed against me : for then I will take away 
out of the midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt 

no more be lifted up because of my holy mountain 

Give praise, O daughter of Sion : shout, O Israel : be glad 
and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 
The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned 
away thy enemies : the King of Israel the Lord is in the 
midst of thee, thou shalt fear evil no more. In that day 
(Di*'» yoni) it shall be said to Jerusalem : Fear not ; to Sion : 
Let not thy hands be weakened. The Lord thy God in the 
midst of thee is mighty, He will save : He will rejoice over 
thee with gladness. He will be silent in His love. He will 
be joyful over thee in praise, "f 

And Isaias : '* Is it not yet a very little while, and Liba- 
non shall be turned into a charmel, and charmel shall be 
esteemed as a forest .? And in that day (^"(1, yom) the deaf 
shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and 
obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see. And the meek 
shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall 

* Ezechiel, xxx. 3-9, f Sophonias, v. 8-1 1, 14-17. 



the time of Christ on Earth, 329 

rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."* That this passage 
refers to the time of the Christain Church there can be no 
doubt ; for our Lord himself appeals to it in proof of His 
divine mission: "Go and relate to John what you have 
heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor 
have the Gospel preached to them, "f 

We may trace this use of the word even in the New 
Testament. Our Lord says, arguing with the Jews : "Abra- 
ham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it 
and was glad. "J Saint Paul, too, though writing in the 
Greek language to the Corinthians, does not hesitate to 
adopt a passage from Isaias, in which the same meaning is 
conspicuously brought out: "And we helping do exhort 
you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For 
he saith : In an accepted time have I heard thee, and in the 
day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the 
acceptable time: behold, now is the day of salvation.'' \ And 
finally, Our Divine Lord, in His last touching address to 
the city of Jerusalem, applies the word day to the season of 
grace and mercy: "When he drew near, seeing the city, 
He wept over it, saying : If thou also hadst known, and that 
in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace : but now they 
are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon 
thee ; and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side."|| 

So much, then, for the first argument. From the nu- 
merous examples we have given it is plain enough that the 
word l^i"" (>'^^0' ^^ Scripture language, was often used for 
a period of many days, and even many years ; nay some- 
limes for a period of many centuries. If so, Moses was free 
to use it in this sense. And consequently, as far as the 
word itself is concerned, it aftbrds no conclusive proof that 

* Isaias, xxix. 17-19. t Matth. xi. 4, 5. 

J John, viii. 56. \ 2 Cor. vii. i, 2. || Luke, xix. 41-43. 



3 30 The Even ing a nd the Morning, 

the Days of Creation were days of twenty-four hours only : 
we may hold them to be long and indefinite periods of time, 
without departing in any degree from the established usage 
of Scripture. 

But it is urged — and this is the second argument, — that, 
whatever may be the meaning of the word ^-jn {yom) else- 
where, in the first chapter of Genesis it must mean a day of 
twenty-four hours. For we are not merely told that there 
was a First Day, and a Second Day, and a Third Day ; but 
each day is in a manner analyzed by the sacred writer, and 
its component parts set forth for our instruction. There 
was evening and there was morning, he says, the First Day ; 
/here was evening and there was morning the Second Day ; 
there was evening and there was morning the Third Day : and 
so on. Now if the word were undei stood of those indefinite 
periods we have been speaking about, there w^ould be no 
meaning in this analysis : for it could hardly be maintained 
that each of those periods had but one evening and one 
morning like an ordinary day. Furthermore, it is argued 
that there is a peculiar appropriateness in this phrase, which 
goes far to confirm the common interpretation. Amongst 
the Jews it was usual to compute the civil day from sunset 
to sunset. The civil day began then with the evening. And 
accordingly Moses, in describing the Days of Creation, 
puts the evening first, and says : There was evening and 
there was morning the First Day ; there was evening and 
there was morning the Second Day ; and so for the rest. 

All this reasoning seems to us unsatisfactory and incon- 
clusive. In the first place, it is not a fact, as would seem 
to be supposed, that the civil day is made up of evening and 
morning. The evening and the morning do not make the 
whole day ; they are only certain periods of the day. Neither 
do they mark the limits of the day : for, though it is quite 
true that, in the computation of the Jews, the civil day be- 
gan with the evening, it certainly did not end with the morn- 



The Evening and the Morning. 3 3 1 

ing. If, then, by the word Day, Moses here meant the civij 
clay of twenty-four hours, how is this clause to be under- 
stood, There was evening and there was morning the First 
Day ? It cannot mean that the evening and the morning 
put together made up the First Day : for this is not a fac". 
It cmnot meaft that the evening marked the beginning of 
the day, and the morning marked its close : for the perioc" 
included between the evening and the morning is not the 
day but the night. What does it mean, then ? 

Many writers seem to suppose that the evening and the 
morning are intended by Moses to designate the night and 
the day ; — that is to say, the whole period of darkness and 
the whole period of light, which put together make up 
the civil day of twenty-four nours. If the text could te 
explained in this way, it would fit m, no doubt, much more 
appropriately with the theory of ordinary days than with the 
theory of indefinite periods. But the text cannot be ex- 
plained in this way. The evening is not the whole period 
of darkness, and the morning is not the whole period of 
light. No Enghsh writer could say, with propriety, that the 
Day is made up of the evening and the morning. Neither 
could Moses have meant to say this in the first chapter of 
Genesis: for the Hebrew words ^"y^ (Ghereb) and'^r^^^Bokir] 
which are found in the original text, have a meaning not 
less fixed and definite than the corresponding words Even, 
ing and the Morning in the English language. 

To prove the truth of this assertion by an investigation 
of all the passages in the Hebrew Bible, in which these 
words are found, would be a tedious and uninteresting 
task. But it may be easily tested in another way. If the 
words '2'^V {Ghereb) and ^p^ {Boker) were ever used tc 
mean, not strictly the evening and morning, but the whole 
period of night and the whole period of day, this fact would 
surely have become known in the course of time to some of 
the many eminent and accomplished Hebrew lexicographers. 



332 Opinion of Heb^^ew Scholars, 

We ask, then, is there one Hebrew lexicon of note which 
assigns the sense oinighi\.o the word "^y^ {Ghereb) and the 
sense of day to the word "^p^ {Boker). For ourselves, we 
have searched several of the best of them, and we have hot 
found a single one that even hints at such an explanation. 

Perhaps, however, some of our readers might be unwil- 
ling to accept the authority of lexicons as conclusive on a 
point of this kind ; seeing that lexicons very often repre- 
sent but imperfectly the full power of a language. Well, 
then, there is another process, and a simple one enough, 
by which they may demonstrate the inaccuracy of our state- 
ment, if inaccurate it be. Let them produce any passage 
from the Hebrew Bible in which the words ^-|3? {Ghereb) 
and ^p^ {Boker) are employed to designate the whole night 
and the whole day. If they fail to do so, — and as far as 
we are aware, no such passage has yet been discovered, — 
then surely we may fairly contend that the interpretation 
which thus explains the words in the first chapter of Gene- 
sis cannot be regarded as certain : nor can the argument 
founded on that interpretation be received as conclusive. 

There is a text in the eighth chapter of the prophet 
Daniel which might, perhaps, appear at first sight to mili- 
tate against our opinion. The prophet had a vision in 
which it was foreshadowed that Antiochus Epiphanes should 
come and prevail against the Jews, and should profane 
the temple of God, and should abolish the daily sacrifice. 
One of the Angels in the vision is heard asking of another, 
for how long should the daily sacrifice cease, and the sanc- 
tuar}' remain desolate. And the answer is given in these 
words : "Unto evening-morning ("^p)^ in3? 'llJ?- ghad ghe- 
reb boker) two thousand three hundred; then shall the 
sanctuary be cleansed."* Now, this is commonly under- 
stood to mean that the daily sacrifice should be abolished 
for two thousand three hundred days. And therefore, it 
* Dan. viii. 14. 



Text from the Prophet Daniel explained. 333 

would seem that, in this passage, the evening and morning 
are used to signify the ivhole civil day of twenty-four hours. 

We will not dispute the correctness of the interpretation 
which is here set forth, although the words of the Angel 
are explained in a very different sense by many eminent 
commentators. But we think that the passage, even when 
understood according to this interpretation, cannot fairly be 
brought in evidence against us. The evening and the 
morning do not make up the whole day : but they occur 
once, and only once, in each day. Therefore a period 
of many days may be properly signified by noting the 
recurrence of the evening and morning a certain number 
of times. And in point of fact, a usage of this kind 
seems to prevail in most languages. The common word 
fortnight, in English, affords a good illustration. It signi- 
fies a period of fourteen nights and days : yet it does not 
specify the recurrence of fourteen days, but only the recur- 
rence of fourteen nights. Again, the poet says : 

"Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers.^'' 

Nobody would argue from these examples that the word 
summer means a period of twelve months ; or that the 
word flight means a period of twenty-four hours. And so, 
in the case before us, the recurrence of the evening and 
morning \.\^o thousand three hundred times may be pointed 
out to mark a period of two thousand three hundred days, 
although the evening and morning are not the whole day, 
but only certain parts of the day. Nay, more ; we fancy 
we can see a good reason why the Angel in the vision 
should single out the evening and the morning for special 
notice. He had been asked about the profanation of the 
sanctuary, and the abolition of the daily sacrifice. Now it 
was in the evening and the morning that the daily sacrifice was 
wont to be offered. And the Angel seems to answer : The 
evening and the morning shall return two thousand three 
hundred times ; and there shall be no evening and morn- 



334 Argument from the Context. 

ing sacrifice : but, after that time, the sanctuary shall be 
cleansed and sacrifice restored. 

So far we have been arguing from the common usage of 
Scripture that the evening and the morning mentioned in 
the history of the Creadon cannot mean the whole night 
and the whole day. But there is a special objection against 
this interpretation from the history of the Creation itself. 
The fifth verse in the first chapter of Genesis runs thus : 
"And God called the light Day^ and the darkness he called 
Night. And there was evening and there was morning the 
First Day." In the first sentence it is recorded that God, 
having divided the light from the darkness, gave to each its 
proper name : He called the light, Day ; and the darkness, 
Night. Is it not highly improbable that, after this announce- 
ment, the sacred writer would himself, in the very next sen- 
tence, employ names altogether different, if he wished to 
designate the period of light and the period of darkness ? 

We are not maintaining that the phrase under considera- 
tion — "there was evening and there was morning the First 
Day" — cannot be explained on the hypothesis that the Days 
of Creation were days of twenty-four hours. But we do 
contend that it afi"ords no conclusive proof in favor of that 
hypothesis ; because even in that hypothesis the meaning of 
the phrase is still doubtful and obscure. For ourselves, we 
candidly confess we can offer no explanation that seems to 
us, in any system of interpretation, altogether satisfactory. 
We may be allowed, however, to "call attention to an opinion 
put forward by Saint Augustine, which fits in very appro- 
priately with the doctrine that the Days of Creation were 
long periods of time. The distinctions of evening and 
morning, he says, are not to be understood in reference to 
the rising and setting of the Sun, which, in point of fact, 
was not created until the Fourth Day ; but rather in- refer- 
ence to the works themselves that are recorded to have been 
produced. In this way the evening will naturally repre- 



opinion of Sa int Augustine, 335 

sent the bringing to an end of the work that had been 
accomplished ; and the morning, on the other hand, the 
coming in of the work that was to be. This opinion was 
afterward adopted by Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, 
who seems almost to borrow the very words of Saint 
Augustine ; and also by Venerable Bede, who says : 
" What is the evening, but the completion of each work ? 
and the morning, but the beginning of the next?" In the 
twelfth century we find it again set forth by Saint Hilde- 
garde, who was considered by Saint Bernard, as. well as by 
Pope Eugenius the Third, to have been gifted with the 
spirit of prophecy.* This interpretation, it is true, does 
not explain the words evening and morning according to 
their literal signification : but then the metaphorical sense 
it ascribes to them is both simple and appropriate ; more 
especially if we understand the word Day. in the sense of a 
long and indefinite period. As the morning literally means 
the break of day, and the evening its decline, the Sacred 
Writer might, not inaptly, have employed these words to 
represent metaphorically the opening and the close of the 
various works which are ascribed to each successive period 
in the history of the Creation. 

It may be observed, moreover, that this explanation 
seems quite in accord with the etymolgy of the Hebrew 
words IQ'^^ [Ghereb), and -jp;^ {Boker). The latter is formed 
from the root -ip^ {Bakar), io lay open, and used to signify 
the morning, because in the morning the light of the sun is, 
as it were, unveiled, and laid open to the earth. Hence, the 
word might be applied with much propriety, in a metaphor- 
ical sense, to the unfolding of the various works of God, as 
each new period was, in its turn, ushered in with a new act 
of Creation. On the other hand, ^'-\^ {Ghereb) seems to be 
derived from ^^^^j [Gharab), to mingle, and has probably 
come to signify the evening, as the famous Hebrew scholar, 

* Appendix (38) (39) (40) (41). 



33^ Law of the Sabbath Day. 

Aben Ezra, suggests, because, in the uncertain light of even- 
ing, the forms of external objects lose their distinctness of 
outline, and become, in a manner, blended together. And 
so this word might have been employed, not unfitly, to rep- 
resent the close of each period in the creation, which was 
marked, as Geologists tell us, by the gradual dying out or 
extinction of the various forms of life peculiar to that period. 
Anyhow, in following the opinion of so ancient and so ven- 
erable an authority as Saint Augustine, we cannot be charged 
with unduly straining the Sacred Text to meet the exigencies 
of modern science. 

The next argument is founded on a passage in Exodus, to 
which we have already had occasion to refer : *' Six days 
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day 
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : thou shalt do no work 
on it, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man- 
servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy beast, nor the stran- 
ger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made 
the Heavens and the Earth, and the sea, and all that in 
them is, and rested the seventh day ; therefore the Lord 
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. "* We are to work 
upon six days, and to rest upon the seventh ; because in six 
days God accomplished all the works of the creation, and 
rested on the seventh. There can be no mistake as to the 
meaning of this commandment. The six days on which it is 
lawful to labor are, beyond all doubt, six days in the com- 
mon sense of the word ; six days of twenty-four hours each : 
and the seventh day, on which it is forbidden to work, is a 
day of the same kind. But the example of God's labor and 
God's rest is set forth, in the text, as the pattern after which 
this law of the Sabbath was framed. ' And therefore, the 
six days in which God furnished and embellished the 
earth must have been likewise six days of twenty-four 
Exodus, XX. 9-1 X. 



The Seventh Year a Year of Rest. 337 

hours each. This argument is regarded by many writers 
as decisive. 

To us, on the contrary, it seems by no means necessary 
to understand the days on which God labored and rested, 
in precisely the same sense as the days on which it is en- 
joined that we should labor and rest. The examples of 
God is, no doubt, represented in the Sacred Text as the 
reason for the Jewish Sabbath : "Six days shalt thou labor, 
and rest upon the seventh ; for in six days the Lord made 
the Heavens and the Earth, and rested on the seventh." 
But, suppose for a moment that the days of creation were 
long periods of time, will not the significance of this reason 
remain unchanged,? As God, in the great work of the 
creation, labored for six successive periods, g,nd then rested 
for a seventh, so shall you likewise do all your work during 
six of those successive periods into which your time is di- 
vided, and rest upon the seventh. 

In support of this view, we may observe that the Jews were 
commanded to abstain from work, not only every seventh 
day, but also .every seventh ji'^(2r. *'Six years thou shalt 
sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof; but the 
seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that 
the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, 
let the beasts of the field eat it : in like manner shalt thou 
do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard. Six days shalt thou 
work : the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and 
thy ass may rest ; and the son of thy handmaid and the 
stranger may be refreshed."* And in another place we read: 
" When you shall have entered into the land which I will 
give you, observe the rest of the Sabbath to the Lord. Six 
years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune 
thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof ; but in the 
seventh year there shall be a Sabbath to the land, of the rest- 
ing of the Lord ; thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune 

* Exodus, xxiii, 10—12. 

15 



33^ The Seventh Year a Year of Rest. 

thy vineyard. What the ground shall bring forth of itself 
thou shalt not reap : neither shalt thou gather the grapes of 
the first fruits as a vintage ; for it is a year of rest to the land : 
But they shall be unto you for meat ; to thee, and to thy 
man-servant, and to thy maid-servant, and to thy hireling, 
and to the strangers that sojourn with thee, to thy beasts of 
burden, and to thy catde, all things that grow shall be for 
meat.'"* The seventh year, then, according to Divine com- 
mand, was a year of rest among the Jews, just as the seventh 
day was a day of rest ; and it is evident that the one precept, 
no less than the other, was founded on the great example of 
God's rest when He had finished the work of Creation. We 
are satisfied, therefore, that whatever may have been the 
length of those six days in which God labored, and of the 
seventh day on which He rested, His example might still be 
properly set forth as the model on which the law of the Sab- 
bath was founded. 

It is urged, however, that in this passage of Exodus, we 
have the same word ^y\ (yom) applied in the very same 
context to the six days of the Creation and to the six days 
of the week ; and it can hardly be supposed that the 
inspired writer would pass thus suddenly from one mean- 
ing of the word to another, and a very different meaning, 
without giving any intimation to his readers of such a tran- 
sition. If this argument is a good one, we can only say 
that it completely oversets the opinion of those against 
whom we are contending. In the fifth verse of the first 
chapter of Genesis we read: "And God called \hQ light 
Day, and the darkness he called Night, And there was 
evening and there was morning the first Day" Now, those 
who reject the theory of long periods, maintain that by the 
word Day in the latter part of this verse, is meant the 
whole civil" day of twenty-four hours ; while it is plain that, 
in the earlier part of the verse, the same word Day is em- 

* Leviticus, xxv. 2-7. 



Different senses of the same Word, 339 

phatically applied to only a part of that period — that is, to 
the time of light as distinguished from the time of darkness. 
Therefore, they are themselves, in fact, upholding an inter- 
pretation which supposes the inspired writer to pass from 
one meaning of the word Day to another, without any inti- 
mation of a change of meaning. 

But we do not want to shrink from dealing with this 
argument on its merits. The principle on which it is 
founded seems to us unsound and inconsistent with the 
evidence of the Sacred Books themselves. It is quite a 
common thing, we contend, in Scripture, for the writer to 
pass from one meaning of a word to another without any 
explicit indication of such a transition, when, as in the case 
before us, the two senses, though different, are analogous : 
the one being, as it were, the figure, or the symbol, or the 
pattern, of the other. A few examples will make this clear. 
In the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we 
read as follows : "For the charity of Christ presseth us : 
judging this, that if one died for all, then all were dead ; 
and Christ died for all."* Here, when it is said that "all 
were dead,'' the meaning is, that all men were dead spirilually 
by sin ; whereas, in the clause immediately preceding, and in 
the clause immediately following, the same word is used in 
its literal sense for the death of Christ upon the cross. 
And yet the Apostle, though he thus passed from the literal 
to the metaphorical sense of the word, and then back again 
from the metaphorical sense to the literal, gives no express 
indication of these transitions. 

Again, in the Gospel, when a certain man, being called 
by our Lord, said : "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury 
my father," Jesus reproved him in these words: "Let 
the dead bury their dead ; but go thou and preach the 
kingdom of God."f There is some difference of opinion 
amongst commentators as to the exact meaning of this 

* 2 Cor. V. 14, 15. -j- Matt, viii, 22; Luke, ix. 60. 



340 Examples from the Bible, 

phrase. But whatever interpretation be adopted, it seems 
evident from the context that the dead to be buried were those 
who were literally dead ; whereas, the dead who were to 
bury them were manifestly nol those who were literally dead, 
but those who were dead in some analogous or metaphor- 
ical sense. Another example occurs in the twentieth chap- 
ter of Saint John. Christ says to His Apostles : '* I ascend 
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."* 
When He says, "I ascend to my Father/' the meaning is, 
*'to Him who has begotten me from all eternity." When 
He adds, "and your Father," the meaning is, "to Him who 
has adopted you for His children." Here, then, the word 
Father is first used in the sense of a natural father, and 
immediately after in the sense of a father by adoption, with- 
out any explicit declaration of a change in meaning. 

The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans furnishes an 
instance in which the transition from one meaning to 
another occurs in the case of the word Day itself: "The 
night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore, 
cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of 
light. Let us walk honestly as in the day."-\ The word 
Day, in the earlier part of this passage, is used by Saint 
Paul for the Day of Eternity which is to follow the dark- 
ness of this life ; while, in the next sentence, it means 
clearly the period of light between sunrise and sunset. 
Another illustration of the same kind occurs in the first 
Epistle to the Thessalonians." " But you, brethren, are 
not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief; 
for you are all the children of light and the children of the 
day."X No one familiar with the language of Scripture 
can doubt that the first day here is the Day of Judgment ; 
and it is quite plain that' the second day is nol the Day of 
Judgment. 

Our next example, and one most appropriate to our 

* John, XX. 17. I Rom. xiii. 12, 13. | i. Thessal. v. 4, 5. 



The Day of God's Rest, 34 1 

purpose, is taken from the prophet Amos : *'x\nd it shall 
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will 
make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the 
earth in the clear day.''"^ This prophecy is commonly 
referred by the Fathers to the time of our Lord, when the 
earth was darkened in the clear day on the occasion of 
His crucifixion ; but some eminent authorities, with Saint 
Jerome at their head, explain it of the Captivity in Babylon. 
Either interpretation will suit our argument. The sacred 
writer first employs the word Day for a long period of time, 
and afterward proceeds to use it in its more ordinary sense, 
without giving his readers any express intimation of such a 
transition. 

We hope it is now pretty clear that neither the reason 
assigned for the institution of the Sabbath Day, nor the 
particular form of words inwhich that ordinance is set forth, 
offers any insurmountable obstacle to the opinion we are 
defending. And this is quite enough for our purpose. 
For we would again remind our readers that we are not 
attempting to prove from the Sacred Text that this opinion 
viusi be true, but only that it viay be true. Our object 
has been sufficiently attained if we have succeeded in show- 
ing that the hypothesis which makes the Days of Creation 
long periods, is not inconsistent with the language of 
Scripture. 

We are tempted, however, in the case of this' objection, 
to go somewhat further than the scope of our argument 
strictly demands. The text we have just been discussing 
brings before us, in fact, a consideration of great weight in 
favor of the system of long periods. ''In six days the Lord 
made the Heavens and the Earth and the sea, and all that 
in them is, and rested on the seventh day." Now, what was 
this Seventh Day on which God rested .? Was it a common 
day of twenty-four hours.? or was it not rather a long and 

* Amos, viii. 9. 



342 The Day of God's Rest, 

undefined period of time ? Saint Augustine answers plainly 
enough: "The seventh day," he says, "is without an 
evening, and has no setting.'* And Venerable Bede, ask- 
ing why the sacred writer had assigned no evening to the 
seventh day, gives this answer : * ' Because it has no end, 
and is shut in by no limit."* 

The common sentiment of Theologians, as far as we 
know, seems to point in the same direction. They tell us 
that God is said to have rested, inasmuch as He ceased 
from the creation of new species ; and they hold that since 
the close of the Sixth Day no new species have been 
brought into existence. But whether this be true or not, 
it would be very difficult, we think, to point out any sense 
in which God can be said to have rested after the work of 
the Six Days, and in which He is not resting at the present 
moment. If so, the day of His rest is still going on ; and 
it is not a period of twenty-four hours only, but a period 
of many thousand years. Now, if the Seventh Day on 
which God rested is a period of many thousand years, are 
we not fully justified in supposing that the Six Days on 
which He formed and furnished the Heavens and the Earth 
were likewise periods of many ages } 

* Appendix (42) (43). 




CHAPTER XXL 

.APPLICATION OF THE SECOND HYPOTHESIS TO THE MOSAIC 
HISTORY OF CREATION — CONCLUSION. 

Stanmary of the argument — Striking coincidence between the 
order of creation as set forth in the narrative of Moses 
and in the records of Geology — Comparison illustrated and 
developed — Scheme of adjustment between the periods of 
Geology and the days of Genesis — Tabular view of this 
scheme — Objections considered — // is not to be regarded as 
an established theory, but as an admissible hypothesis — 
Either the first hypothesis or the second is sufficient to meet 
the demands of Geology as regards the antiquity of the earth 
— Not necessary to suppose that the sacred writer was made 
acquainted with the long ages of geological time— He simply 
records faithfully that which was committed to his charge — 
The Mosaic history of creation stands alone, without rivals 
or cojnpetitors. 

|HE results at which we have arrived by the long, 
and we fear tedious, line of argument pursued in 
the last Chapter, may be briefly summed up. First, 
many illustrious Fathers of the Church— Saint Augustine, 
Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Saint Athanasius, and 
others — plainly declared against the opinion that the Days 
of Creation were days in the ordinary sense of the word ; 
and, therefore, it is a mistake to suppose that this opinion 
is supported by the unanimous voice of Christian tradition. 
Secondly, the word Day is frequently used in Scripture for a 
long period of time, and sometimes for a period of indefinite 




344 T^^^ Mosaic Days compared 

duration. Thirdly, there is nothing in the language of 
Moses that forbids us to explain the word according to this 
sense, in the first chapter of Genesis. And fourthly, there 
is, at least, one grave consideration, derived from Holy 
Scripture itself, which distinctly points to such an interpre- 
tation. The Six Days of Creation are contrasted with the 
Seventh Day of God's rest ; and this Seventh Day of God's 
rest is unquestionably a long period of undefined duration. 
From all this it is obvious to conclude, that we may fairly 
adopt this mode of interpreting the Mosaic Days, if it will 
assist us in reconciling the received conclusions of science 
with the truths of Revelation. 

Now, there is a striking resemblance, in some important 
respects, between the order of Creation as exhibited in the suc- 
cessive days of the Sacred Record, and the order of Creation 
as manifested in the successive periods of Geological time. 
Three days are specially marked out by the Inspired His- 
torian as distinguished by the creation of vegetable and 
animal life — the Third, the Fifth, and the Sixth. On the 
Third Day were created plants and trees ; on the Fifth, rep- 
tiles, fish, and birds ; on the Sixth, cattle, and the beasts of 
the earth, and, toward the end, man himself. Geologists, 
on the other hand, not influenced in the least degree by the 
Scripture narrative, but guided chiefly by the remains of 
animal and vegetable life which are preserved in the Crust 
of the Earth, have established three leading divisions of 
Geological time ; the Palaeozoic, or first age of organic life, 
the Mesozoic, or second great age of organic life, and the 
Kainozoic, or third great age of organic life. Here, no 
doubt, is a remarkable coincidence. 

But it would be still more remarkable if we could recog- 
nize, in the three epochs of Geology, the same general 
characteristics of organic life as we find ascribed by Moses 
to the three successive days of the Bible narrative. And so 
we may, it is said, if we will only take the pains to examine 



with the Periods of Geology, 345 

for ourselves the organic remains of these geological epochs 
as they lie dispersed through the Crust of the Earth, or even 
as they are to be found collected and arranged for exhibition 
in our museums. The first great age of Geology is emi- 
nently distinguished for its plants and trees ; the second, for 
its huge reptiles and great sea-monsters ; the third, for its 
vast herds of noble quadrupeds. Nay, to complete the har- 
mony between the two Records, as man is represented by 
the Inspired Writer to have been created toward the close 
of the last day, so, toward the close of the last Geological 
age, the remains of man and of his works are found, for the 
first time, laid by in the archives of the Earth. 

Such is the coincidence which some ingenious writers 
fancy they can trace between the his^ory that is set forth in 
the written Word of God, and the history that is so curiously 
inscribed upon His works. Our readers, perhaps, will not 
be unwilling to consider it a little more in detail. We read 
in the first chapter of Genesis, that on the Third Day God 
said : " Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such 
as may seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, 
which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was 
so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and 
such as yieldeth seed accoi'ding to its kind, and the tree that 
beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. 
And God saw that it was good."* Let us now turn to the 
Carboniferous Period of Geology, which occupies a large 
space in the great Palaeozoic age. All writers agree that it 
was specially marked by a gorgeous and luxuriant vege- 
tation : and as we contemplate the multitudinous remains 
of plants and trees which have been gathered so abundantly 
in our coal measures, and ranged with such striking effect 
along the walls of our museums, we can scarcely help think- 
ing that we have before us a practical commentary on the 
text of Moses. The gifted Hugh Miller, who is universally 

* Gen. i. II, 12. 
15* 



34^ TJie Mosaic Days compared 

allowed to have been one of the most practical and ex- 
perienced Geologists of the modern school, gives a very pic- 
turesque and graphic sketch of the Carboniferous flora. **In 
no other age," he says, "did the world ever witness such a 
flora : the youth of the earth was peculiarly a green and 
umbrageous youth, — a youth of dusk and tangled forests, — 
of huge pines and stately araucarians, — of the reed-like 
calamite, the tall tree-fern, the sculptured sigillaria, and the 
hirsute lepidodendron. Wherever dry land, or shallow lake 
or running stream appeared, from where Melville Island 
now spreads out its ice-wastes under the star of the pole, to 
where the arid plains of Australia lie solitary beneath the 
bright cross of the south, a rank and luxuriant herbage cum- 
bered every footbreadth of the dank and steaming soil ; and 
ev3n to distant planets our eaith must have shown, through the 
enveloping cloud, with a green and delicate ray."* Such an 
age as' this might well be described in history as the age in 
which the earth brought forth the green herb, and the fruit- 
tree yielding seed according to its kind. 

Again, the work of the Fifth Day is thus described in the 
Sacred Narrative : — ' * God also said : Let the waters bring 
forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may 
fly over the earth under the firmament of Heaven. And 
God created the great whales, and every living and moving 
creature which the waters brought forth, according to their 
kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And 
God saw that it was good."f And in this case, as in the 
former, we may find the counterpart of the Bible story in 
the records of Geology. "The secondary age of the geolo- 
gist," says the eminent writer from whom we have already 
quoted, "possessed, like the earlier one, its herbs and plants, 
but they were of a greatly less luxuriant and conspicuous 
character than their predecessors, and no longer formed the 
prominent trait or feature of the creation to which they be- 

* The Testimony of the Rocks, p. 125.- •}• Genesis, i. 20, 21. 



with the Periods of Geology. 347 

Icng. The period had also its corals, its crustaceans, its 
molluscs, i;s fishes, and, in some one or two exceptional 
instances, its dwarf mammals. But the grand existences of 
the age, — the existences in which it excelled every other 
creation, earlier or later, — w^ere its huge creeping things, — 
its enormous monsters of the deep, — and, as shown by the 
impressions of their footprints stamped upon the rocks, its 
gigantic birds. It was peculiarly the age of egg-bearing 
animals, winged and wingless. Its wonderful whales, not 
however as now, of the mammalian, but of the reptilian class 
— ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and cetiusaurs — must have tem- 
pested the deep ; its creeping lizards and crocodiles, such 
as the teliosaurus, megalosaurus, and iguanodon, — crea- 
tures some of which more than rival the existing elephant 
in height, and greatly more than rivalled him in bulk,-— 
must have crowded the plains, or haunted by myriads the 
rivers of the period ; and we know that the foot-prints of, 
at least, one of its many birds, are fully twice the size of 
those made, by the horse or camel. We are thus prepared 
to demonstrate that the second period of the geologist was 
peculiarly and characteristically a period of whale-like 
reptiles of the sea, of enormous creeping reptiles of the 
land, and of numerous birds, some of them of gigantic 
size."* 

Once more, it is written that, on the Sixth Day, '* God 
said : Let the earth biing forth the living creature in its kind, 
cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earLh, according 
to their kinds. And it was so done. And God made the 
beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle and 
every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And 
God saw that it was good, "f And again Geology seems to 
confirm the truth of the Inspired narrative, and to fill up the 
details of the picture. "The Tertiary period," continues 
Hugh Miller, "had also its prominent class of existences. 

* Testimony of the Rocks, p. 126. f Genesis, i. 24, 25. 



34^ The Mosaic Days compared 

Its flora seems to have been no more conspicuous than thai 
of the present time ; its reptiles occupy a very subordinate 
place ; but its beasts of the field were by far the most won- 
derfully developed, both in size and numbers, that ever 
appeared upon the earth. Its mammoths and its mastodons, 
its rhinoceri and its hippopotami, its enormous dimotherium 
and colossal megatherium, greatly more than equalled in 
bulk the greatest mammals of the present time, and vastly 
exceeded them in number. The remains of one of its 
elephants (Elephas primigenius) are still so abundant amid 
the frozen wastes of Siberia, that what have been not inap- 
propriately termed 'ivory quarries' have been wrought 
among their bones for more than a hundred years. Even 
in our own country, of which, as I have already shown, this 
elephant was for long ages a native, so abundant are the 
skeletons and tusks, that there is scarcely a local museum 
in the kingdom that has not its specimens, dug out of the 
Pleistocene deposits of the neighborhood. And with this 
ancient elephant there were meetly associated in Britain, 'as 
on the northern continents generally all around the globe, 
many other mammals of corresponding magnitude. * Grand 
indeed,' says an English naturalist, 'was the fauna of the 
British islands m those early days. Tigers as large again as 
the biggest Asiatic species lurked in the ancient thickets ; 
elephants nearly twice the size of the largest individuals that 
now exist in Africa or Ceylon roamed in herds : at least two 
species of the rhinoceros forced their way through the pri- 
meval forests ; and the lakes and rivers were tenanted by 
hippopotami as bulky, and with as great tusks, as those of 
Africa.' The massive cave-bear and large cave-hyaena be- 
long to the same formidable ^roup, with at least two species 
of great oxen, with a horse of smaller size, and an elk 
that stood ten feet four inches in height. Truly this Tertiary 
age— this third and last of the geologic periods — was pecu- 



with the periods of Geology. 349 

liarly the age of great 'beasts of the earth after their 'kind, 
and of cattle after their kind."'* 

We shall be told, perhaps, that there are Six Days assigned 
to the work of creation in the Mosaic narrative, and that we 
have accounted but for three. Let it be remembered, how- 
ever, that Geology does not profess to give a complete his- 
tory of our Globe. It can set before us those events only 
which have left their impress indelibly stamped upon the 
rocks that compose the Crust of the Earth. These events 
Geologists have attempted to reduce to the order of a chrono- 
logical system ; and in prosecuting this task they have been 
guided almost exclusively by the evidence of Organic Re- 
mains. Hence it was not to be expected that, in Geologi- 
cal Chronology, we should find a Period specially set apart 
as the Period in which Light was made ; or another as the 
Period in which the Firmament was spread out over the Earth; 
or a Third as the Period in which the sun and moon and 
stars shone forth in the expanse of Heaven. Such phenom- 
ena had, indeed, a very important influence on the physical 
condition of our globe. But they must occupy a very 
secondar}- place, if indeed they are distinctly chronicled at 
all in the records of Geology. It is the formation of rocks 
and the embedding therein of Fossil Remains that constitute 
the main study of the Geologist, and that guide him in the 
distribution of Geological time. ^ 

Furthermore, we would observe that the scheme of Chro- 
nology which Geologists put before us, affords abundant 
room for each and all of the Mosaic Days. Let it be 
assumed for a moment that the Carboniferous Period cor- 
responds with the Third Day of the Sacred narrative. The 
earlier Periods of the Palaeozoic Age will then fit in with 
the First and Second Days of Scripture ; and the Permian, 
which interv^enes between the Carboniferous Period antl the 

* Testimony of the Rocks, pp. 127, 128. 



35o Sche^ne of Adjustment, 

Secondary Age, may be supposed to correspond with the 
Fourth Day of Scripture. This adjustment between the 
Mosaic Days and the Periods of Geology will probably be 
made more intelligible to the general reader by the Table 
that appears on the following page. 

The reader must not think it amiss, in this distribution 
of the Mosaic Days, that four out of six are crowded 
together into one Geological Age, while each of the other 
two has an entire Age assigned to itself If the Days of 
Creation were indefinite periods, there is no incongruity in 
supposing that one may have corresponded to a longer, 
another to a shorter interval in the history of our planet. 
But, in truth, our scheme of distribution does not of neces- 
sity imply that the Mosaic Days were periods of unequal 
length. Geologists do not pretend that there is even a 
remote approximation to equality between the several divis- 
ions of Geological time. The three great Epochs are dis- 
tinguished from each other bv reason of the very marked 
difference in the character of their Fossil Remains. And 
the multiplication of Periods in each Epoch seems to de- 
pend rather upon the degree of completeness with which 
the strata of that Age have been examined, than upon any 
conjecture as to the probable length of its duration. . Thus, 
for example. Sir Charles Lyell thinks that, as far as the 
present condition of Science affords the means of forming 
an opinion, almost any one of the Periods in the Palaeozoic 
Age was as long as all the Periods of the Tertiary Age 
taken together.* 

But there is another and a more serious objection against 
our hypothesis. It has been observed more than once that 
the periods of Geology are out of harmony with the Days 
of Genesis, even as regards the history of Organic life. 
According to the Scripture narrative no Organic life ap- 
peared upon the Earth previous to the Third Day. Now 

* Elements ©f Geology, p. loo. 



Scheme of Adjicstmefit. 



35i 



the Third Day of Scripture corresponds, in our scheme, 
with the Carboniferous Period of Geology. And yet there 
is abundant evidence in the Fossil Remains of the Devo- 
nian, the Silurian, and the Cambrian Formations, that 



DATS. 
DAY OP god's rest. 


PERIODS. 
RECENT. 


EPOCHS. 
HISTORIC AGE. 


SIXTH MOSAIC DAY. 


POST-PLIOCENE. 
PLIOCENE, 
MIOCENE. 
EOCENE.. 


TERTIARY 

OR 

KAINOZOIC AGE. 


FIFTH MOSAIC DAY. 


CRETACEOUS. 

JURASSIC. 

TRIASSIC. 


SECONDARY 

OR 

MESOZOIC AGE. 


FOURTH MOSAIC DAY. 
THIRD MOSAIC DAY. 

FIRST AND SECOND 
MOSAIC DAYS. 


PERMIAN. 

CARBONIFEROUS. 
^ DEVONIAN. 
) SILURIAN. 
) CAMBRIAN. 
( LAURENTIAN. 


PRUtfARY 

OR 

PALiEOZOIC AGE. 



Organic, life — both plants and animals — prevailed upon 
the Earth for many ages before the Carboniferous Period 
began. Nay, it is now commonly held, since the discovery 
of the famous Eozoon Canadense, the oldest known Fossil, 
that life already existed during the deposition of the Lauren- 
tian Rocks, the earliest of all the Stratified Formations. 
Furthermore, in the Mosaic account. Fish are represented 
as having been created only on the Fifth Day, which we have 
fitted in with the Secondary Age of Geology : whereas in the 
Geological Record we find Fish as early as the Silurian 
Period, which is far back in the Primary Age. These con- 
siderations, and divers others of a like nature, iiave been 
regarded by some eminent writers as altogether fatal tc 
the hypothesis for which we are contending. 



352 What is left unrecorded 

To us, however, it appears that such points of discrep- 
ancy involve no contradiction between the two Records. 
The Sacred Writer tells us, no doubt, that on the Third 
Day God created plants and trees : but he does not say, 
either expressly or otherwise, that previous to the Third 
Day the Earth was devoid of vegetation. Again, we read 
that reptiles, fish, and birds were created on the Fifth Day. 
But there is nothing in the language of the Inspired narra- 
tive from which it can be inferred that these several classes 
of animal life may not have been represented before that 
time, by many and various species : though probably, it 
was only on the Fifth Day that they were developed in such 
Vast numbers, and assumed such gigantic proportions, as 
to become the most conspicuous objects of creation. 

The first chapter of Genesis is but a brief summary of 
an inconceivably vast series of events. It is nothing more 
than a rapid sketch, exhibiting, as it were, to the eye the 
prominent features in the history of Creation. Moreover, 
we should remember that it was written with a specific end 
in view. The purpose of the Sacred Writer was plainly to 
impress upon the Hebrew people, naturally prone to idola- 
try, the existence of One Supreme Being, who has made all 
things. Hence we should naturally expect that, arnid the 
boundless variety of God's works, he would make choice 
of those that were most calculated to strike the mind with 
wonder and awe, and to bring home to a rude and uncul- 
tivated race of men the Almighty Power and Supreme Do- 
minion of the Great Creator. Now the Zoophytes, and 
Graptolites, and Tribolites, of the Devonian and Silurian 
Periods, however curious and interesting they may be to 
men of science, would have had but little significance for the 
Jewish people. Let us suppose that these more humble 
forms of animal life had, in fact, existed during the First 
and Second Days of the Mosaic narrative, and where is the 
wonder that the Inspired Historian, .under the guidance of 



not, on that account, untrue. 353 

the Holy Spirit, should pass them by in silence, and choose 
rather to commemorate the more striking and impressive 
facts, that, at the bidding of God, Light shone forth from 
the midst of darkness, and the blue firmament of Heaven 
was expanded above the waste of waters ? 

We say, chen, that events which are simply left unre- 
corded by the Sacred Writer are not, on that account, 
untrue :* that he describes to us, not all the works of 
Creation, which would have been an endless task, but only 
the more conspicuous objects in each successive stage ; and 
that he sketches them, most probably, as they would have 
appeared to the eye of a human observer, if a human 
observer at the time had existed on the Earth. If this view 
be admitted, then it is not inconsistent with the Scripture 
narrative to suppose that plants may have existed before 
the Third Day, and fish before the Fifth. Each Day in its 
turn would have been rendered conspicuous to an observing 
spectator by those events which are recorded by Moses. 
But each Day, too, would have witnessed many other events, 
unnoticed by Moses, of which the memorials have been 
preserved, even to our time, in the Crust of the Earth. 

We should observe, however, that though this scheme of 
adapting the Periods of Geology to the Days of Moses, may 
be defended as a legitimate hypothesis, it cannot be upheld 
as an established truth. The geological records that have 
hitherto been brought to light represent but the merest 
fragment of the Earth's past history. Each year that passes 
jver our heads is adding largely to the store of facts already 
accumulated. And it needs but little reflection to perceive 
that an hypothesis may be quite consistent with the knowl- 
edge we possess to-day, and yet may be found altogether 
inconsistent with the knowledge we shall possess to-morrow. 
We must be content, therefore, to suspend our judgment, 

* "Aliquid esse a Deo conditum, de quo sileat liber Genesis, nihil re 
pugnat." Saint Augustine, Confess. Lib. xii., cap. xxii. 



354 A legitimate Hypothesis, 

and to await the progress of events. It may be that future 
discoveries shall bring to light new points of harmony 
between the Days of Genesis and the Periods of Geology ; 
it may be they shall demonstrate that no such harmony 
exists. For us it is enough to have shown that this hy- 
pothesis is consistent, on the one hand, with the story of 
Genesis — on the other, with the actual discoveries of Geol- 
ogy ; and, therefore, that it may be adopted, in the present 
condition of our knowledge, as. a legitimate means of 
reconciling the established conclusions of that science with 
the truths of Revelation. 

Conclusion. — We have, then, two distinct systems of in- 
terpretation, according to which the vast Antiquity of the 
Earth, asserted by Geology, may be fairly brought into har- 
mony with the history of creation, recorded in Scripture. 
The one allows an interval of incalculable duration between 
the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the work of 
the Six Days : the other supposes each one of these Six 
Days to have been itself an indefinite period of time. We 
cannot, indeed, prove that either of these two systems is true , 
in point of fact ; but we have attempted to show that neither is 
at variance with the language of the Sacred Text. On the other 
hand, when we look to the evidence of geological facts, we 
see no decisive reason for preferring one to the other. Either 
mode of interpretation seems in itself quite sufficient to 
meet all the present requirements of Geology ; for, accord- 
ing to either interpretation, the Bible narrative would allow 
time without limit for the past history of our Globe ; and 
time without limit is just what Geology demands. We may 
say, then, on this point, what Saint Augustine said long ago, 
in speaking of the diverse interpretations which the text of 
Genesis admits : "Let each one choose according to the best 
of his power : only let him not rashly put forward as known 
that which is unknown ; and let him not fail to remembei 



Geological Truths not revealed to Moses, 355 

that he is but a man searching, as far as may be, into the 
works ofGod. "* 

It must not be supposed that, according to our view, the 
Sacred Writer, in composing his account of the Creation, 
had before his mind those vast Geological Periods about 
which we have said so much in the course of this volume. 
Such an opinion is no part of our system. We see no good 
reason for believing that the author of Genesis was specially 
enlightened from Heaven on the subject of Stratified Rocks 
and Fossil Remains, of Upheaval and Denudation, of Vol- 
canic Action and Subterranean Heat. These are matters of 
Physical, not of Religious Science. And it seems to be the 
order of Providence to leave the discovery of such things to 
the industry and ingenuity of man : "Cuncta fecit bona in 
tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum."f 

What we maintain, then, is simply this : that the Sacred 
Writer recorded faithfully, in language fitted to the ideas of 
his time, that portion of Revelation which was committed to 
him ; and, in ihe accomplishment of this task, made such 
a choice of words and phrases, under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, to whom all truth is present, as to set forth 
plainly those facts that were unfolded to him, without in- 
troducing any error about those facts of which he was igno- 
rant. The language is the language of men, but the voice 
that speaks therein is the voice of God. And thus it comes 
to pass that this Mosaic stoiy, when fairly examined accord- 
ing to the ordinary laws of human speech, is found in every 
age to accommodate itself, with quite an unexpected sim- 
plicity, to those new and wonderful views of God's manifold 
power which each human science in its turn brings to 
light. 

Before taking leave of the subject, we would venture to 
bring under the notice of our readers one very obvious re- 
flection, which is sometimes lost sight of in the heat of con- 
* Appendix (44). f Ecclesiastes, Hi. 2. 



o 



56 Cos7noo'07izes of Gentile Nations, 



troversy. The Mosaic history of the Creation absolutely 
stands alone. It has no rivals, no competitors. Every other 
attempt that has been made to explain the origin of the 
world, and of the human race, is refuted by its own intrinsic 
extravagance and absurdity. The wisest nations of antiquity 
failed to discover that great fundamental truth, which stands 
out so boldly on the first page of Genesis, that there is One 
God who hath made all things. The philosophers of Chal- 
daea were familiar with the course of the Heavens, and 
could predict the eclipses of the sun and moon. But the 
philosophers of Chaldaea could not rise from the contempla- 
tion of creatures to the knowledge of the Creator: the crea- 
tures themselves were the gods that Chaldaea worshipped. 
Egypt had greatness of mind to conceive the idea of the 
Pyramids, and skill to devise the plan of their construction, 
and strength of arms to lift up the huge stones on these 
stupendous piles. But Egypt raised up temples to the river 
that waters its plain, and offered sacrifice to the reptile 
that crawls upon the earth, and the beast that grazes in the 
field. In Greece the human mind soared to its highest 
flight, and ranged over the widest and most beautiful fields 
of thought. Peerless is she among the nations, the mistress 
of the arts, the fountain source of refined taste, the store- 
house of intellectual power, the great nurse of human genius. 
Her schools of philosophy have influenced and guided to a 
marvellous extent the thoughts and speculations of all sub- 
sequent times. The song of her immortal bard has kin- 
dled the imagination of the poet in every generation, and 
enriched his mind with glowing images. Orators and states- 
men still love to copy the lofty sentiments, the graceful 
diction, the flowing periods, of her golden eloquence. And 
students from every clime stand enraptured before the beauty 
and the majesty of her sculptured marble. But Greece, 
Imperial Greece, knew not the One God, the giver of all 



The Mythologies of Greece and Rome. 357 

good gifts, by whom she was so highly endowed. She fash- 
ioned for herself gods and goddesses after her own fancy, 
and i^orLioned out the universe between them. Jupiter 
hurled his thunderbolts from the clouds : Neptune ruled the 
sea : Pluto swayed the sceptre of the infernal regions : Mi- 
nerva was the goddess of wisdom : Vulcan the god of fire : 
Apollo the god of music. Nay, the very infirmities and 
vices of human nature were personified under the names of 
divinities, and worshipped in the Pantheon of the gods. 
Rome, too, the conqueror of the world, had its philoso- 
phers and its orators, its poets and its sculptors, whose pro- 
ductions still charm and instruct mankind. Yet was Rome 
no exception to the common lot of the gentile world. For 
Rome, like Greece, had its long array of gods and god- 
desses, with their petty jealousies, their vindictive malice, 
their shameless passions. Alone, amidst all the Mytholo- 
gies and Cosmogonies of ancient nations, the story of the 
Hebrew Legislator rises superior to the gross and silly spec- 
ulations of mortal men. It alone proclaims to mankind 
what Philosophy and Science, when left to themselves, have 
never been able to teach, that, In the beginning God created 
the Heavens and the Earth ; that the plants and ihe animals, 
the ocean and the elements, the sun and moon and stars, 
man himself, and all that delights the eye and charms the 
ear and fills the mind, are His creatures ; and that besides 
Him there is no other God. Away, then, with the idea that 
this Sacred Narrative, stamped as it plainly is with the im- 
print of its Divine Author, should ever be found at variance 
with the truths of science, — or rather, we should say, with 
those scanty fragments of truth, those crumbs of knowledge, 
falling from the table of our Heavenly Father, which it is 
given to man here below to gather up with laborious care, 
and which, however they may excite his longings, cannot 
satisfy his hunger. 



358 The simple Sublimity of Genesis. 

Here, for the present, we must stop. At some future 
time, perhaps, if our opportunities permit, we shall return 
to this subject, and, taking up the second branch of the con- 
troversy, investigate the recent discoveries of Geology in 
reference to the teaching of the Bible as regards the Anti- 
quity of the Human Race, 




APPENDIX 



EXTRACTS FROM THE FATHERS AND THEOLOGIANS. 
REFERRED TO IN THIS VOLUME, 



(i.) Saint Augustine. — p. 297. 

" Et in rebus obscuris atque a nostris oculis remotissimis, si 
qua inde scripta etiam divina legerimus, quae possunt salva 
fida qua imbuimur, alias atque alias parere sententias ; in 
nullam earum nos praecipiti affirmatione ita projiciamus, ut si 
forte diligentius discussa Veritas earn recte labefactaverit, cor- 
ruamus : non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum, sed pro 
nostra ita dimicantes, ut earn velimus Scripturarum esse, quae 
nostra est ; cum potius earn quae Scripturarum est, nostram 
esse velle debeamus."— De Genesi ad Litteram, lib. i. cap. 
18, n. zi- 

(2.) Idem. — p. 298, 

'' Plerumque enim accidit ut aliquid de terra, de coelo, de 
caeteris hujus mundi elementis.. de motu et conversione vel 
etiam de magnitudine et intervallis siderum, de certis defecti- 
bus solis ac lunae, de circuitibus annorum et temporum, de 
naturis animalium, fruticum, lapidum atque hujusmodi cae- 
teris, etiam non christianus ita noverit, ut certissima ratione 
vel experientia teneat. Turpe est autem nimis et perniciosum 
ac maxime cavendum, ut christianum de his rebus quasi 
secundum Christianas Litteras loquentem, ita delirare quilibet 
infidelis audiat, ut, quemadmodum dicitur, toto coelo errare 
conspiciens, risujn tenere vix possit. Et non tam molestum 
est, quod errans homo derideturj sed quod auctores nostri ab 



360 Appendix. 

eis qui foris sunt, talia sensisse creduntur, et cum magnc 
eorum exitio de quorum salute satagimus, tanquam indocti 
reprehenduntur atque respuuntur. Cum enim quemquam de 
numero christianorum in ea re quam optime nofunt, errare 
deprehenderint, et vanam sententiam suam de nostris Libris 
asserere ; quo pacto illis Libris credituri sunt, de resurrectione 
mortuorum, et de spe vitae aeternae, regnoque coelorum, 
quando de his rebus quas jam experiri, vel indubitatis numeris 
percipere potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint esse conscriptos ? 
Quid enim molestiae tristitiaeque ingerant prudentibus fratri- 
bus temerarii praesumptores, satis dici non potest, cum si 
quando de prava et falsa opinione sua reprehendi, et convinci 
coeperint ab eis qui nostrorum Librorum auctoritate non te- 
nentur, ad defendendum id quod levissima temeritate et aper- 
tissima falsitate dixerunt, eosdem Libros sanctos, unde id 
probent, proferre conantur, vel etiam memoriter, quae ad 
testimonium valere arbitrantur, multa inde verba pronuntiant, 
' non intelligentes neque quae loquuntur, neque de quibus 
affirmant' (I. Tim., i. 7)." — Ibid., cap. 19, n. 39. 

(3.) Saint Thomas. — p. 298. 
" Dicendum quod, sicut Augustinus docet, in hujusmodi 
quaestionibus duo sunt observanda. Primo quidem, ut Veritas 
Scripturae inconcusse teneatur. Secundo, ' cum Scriptura di- 
vina multipliciter exponi possit, quod nulli expositioni aliquis 
ita praecise inhaereat, ut si certa ratione constiterit hoc esse 
falsum quod aliquis sensum Scripturae esse credebat id nihi- 
lominus asserere praesumat ; ne Scriptura ex hoc ab intidelibus 
derideatur, et ne eis via credendi . praecludatur. " — Summa 
Theologica, Pars Prima, Ouaest. Ixviii. art. primus. 

(4.) Perrerius. — P. 302. 
'•' Quod autem in xx. et xxxi. cap. Exod. dictum est, Deum 
sex diebus fecisse coelum et terram, et omnia quae in eis sunt, 
non est huic opinioni contrarium : illud enim spatium tempons 
ante primum diem annumeratur sex diebus, quia fuit quam 
brevissimum, et fuit continuata Dei operatio : nee sane plures 
dies naturales consumpti sunt quam sex : ac licet ante primum 



Appendix. 361 

diem, coelum et elementa facta sint secundum substantiam, 
tamen non fuerunt perfecta et omnino consummata, nisi spatio 
illorum sex dierum ; tunc enim datus est illis ornatus, com- 
plementum, et perfectio." — Comment, in Genes., cap. i, 
V. 4, n. 80. 

(5.) TOSTATUS. — P. 302. 
'' Sex diebus fecit Dominus caelum et terram. Recte dicitur 
\i\zfacere, quia coelum et terra, quae hie nominantur, et om- 
nia alia, quae nomine eorum subintelliguntur, ista quidem 
omnia de materia prima facta sunt : materia autem non facta 
sed creata est." — Comment, in Exod, cap. 20, quaest 15. 

(6.) Petavius. — p. 302. 

Writing on the phrase In die quo fecit Dominus Deus coelum 
et terrani, he says, " hoc €st, perpolitum €t elaboratum esse 
sex continuis diebus. id enim faceindi vox Hebraeis ipsis in- 
terpretibus significare videtur."— De Opificio Sex Dierum, lib. 
cap. 14, sect. I. 

(7,) Saint Basil, — p. 304. 

'■^Et facta esi.vespera, et factum est mane, dies unus. Vespera 
igitur diei ac noctis est comrnunis terminus : et similiter mane, 
est noctis cum die vicinitas. Itaque ut prioris generationis 
pracrogativam diei tribueret, prius commemoravit finem diei, 
deinde noctis, velut insequente diem nocte. Nam qui status 
in mundo fuit ante lucis generationem, is non erat nox, sed 
tenebrae : quod autem a die distinguebatur, eique opponebatur, 
id nox appellatum est." — Homiha ii. in Hexaemeron ; Edit. 
Bened. p. 20; Edit. Migne, Patr. Graec, Cursus Completus, 
tom. 29, p. 47. 

(8.) Saint Chrysostom. — p. 304. 
''Ostendimus enim heri, ut meministis, quomodo beatus 
Moses enarrans nobis horum visibiHum elementorum creatio- 
nem et opificium, dixerit : In principio fecit Deus coelum et 
terram : terra autein erat invisibilis et incomposita : et vos 
causam docuimus, quare Deus terram informen etnullis figuris 
expolitam creaverit ; quae, opinor, omnia mente tenetis ; neces- 
sarium est igitur nos ad ea quae sequuntur hodie progredi 

16 



362 Appendix. 

Nam postquam dixit, Terra autei7i erat invisibilis et ittcoin- 
posita^ nos accurate docet, unde invisibilis erat et inculta, 
dicens : Et teiiebrae erant super abyssuiHy et Spiritus Dei 
superferebatitr super aquani. . . . Quandoquidem igitur diffusa 
erat- magna universi visibilis informitas, praecepto suo Deus, 
optimus ille artifex. deformitatem illam depulit, et immensa 
lucis visibilis pulchritudo producta tenebras fugavit sensibiles, 
illustravitque omnia." — In Cap. i. Genes. Homil. iii. ; Edit. 
Migne, Patr. Graec. Cursus Completus, torn. 53, p. 33. Here 
Saint Chrysostom plainly teaches that the world existed before 
the creation of light. In his Fifth Homily he is equally clear 
that the First Day of the Mosaic narrative began with a period 
of light, and not with a period of darkness : '' Vide quomodo de 
singulis diebus sic dicat : £t factum est vespere, et factum est 
mane, dies tertius : non simpliciter nee absque causa : sed ne 
ordinem confundamus neque putemus vespera ingruente finem 
accepisse diem ; sed sciamus vesperam finem esse lucis, et 
principium noctis: mane autem finem noctis, et complemen- 
tum dici. Hoc enim nos docere vult beatus Moses, dicens : 
Et factum est vespere, et factum est jnane, dies tertius,'''' — Edit. 
Migne^ P- 52. 

(9.) Saint Ambrose. — p. 305. 

<< Xerra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita. Bonus artifex 
prius fundamentum ponit : postea, fundamento posito, aedifi- 
cationis membra distinguit, et adjungit ornatum. Posito igitur 
fundamento terrae, et confirmata coeli substantia, duo enim 
ista sunt velut cardines rerum, subtexuit : Terra aiiteni erat 
inanis et incomposita. '''' — Hexaemeron, Lib. i. cap. 7; Edit. 
Bened. p. 13 ; Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. Cursus Completus, 
tom. 14, p. 135. 

'■'■ Principium ergo diei, vox Dei est : fiat lux ; et facta est 
lux.'''' — Lib. i. cap. 10; Edit. Bened. p 21 ; Edit. Migne, p. 144. 

''In principio itaque temporis coelum et terram Deus fecit. 
Tempus enim ab hoc mundo, non ante mundum : dies autem 
temporis portio est, non principium." — Lib. i. cap. 6; Edit. 
Bened. p. 10; Edit. Migne, p. 132. 

(10.) Venerable Bede. — p. 305. 
" Scriptura ait : Qui f'cisti mu7idujn de mate?'ia informi. 



Appendix. 363 

Sed materia facta est de nihilo, mundi vero species de informi 
materia. Proinde duas res ante omnem diem et ante omne 
tempus condidit Deus angelicam videlicet creaturam et infor- 
mem materiam." — In Pentateuch. Comment. ; sub. cap. i : 
Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. Cursus Completus, tom. 91, p. 191. 
In another place, citing the words of Ecclesiasticus, Qui vivit 
in aeternum creavit omnia siniul, he says, ''hoc utique ante 
omnem diem hujus saeculi fecit,, cum in principio coelum cre- 
avit et terram." — Hexaemeron, Lib. i. in Genes, ii. 4 ; Edit. 
Migne, tom. 91, p. 39. 

'■^ Discipidus. Da ordinem per sex dies factarum rerum ? 
Magister. In ipso quidem principio conditionis facta sunt coe- 
lum, terra, aer, et aqua Discipulus. Sequere ordinem 

generationis ? Magister. In principio diei primae lux facta 
est; secunda vero factum firmamentum;" etc. — Quaestiones 
super Genesim J Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. tom. 93. p. 236. 
This work is classed by Migne among the Dubia et Spuria of 
Bede. The critics, however, seem to be agreed that it belongs 
to a period not later than the tenth century. If it is not the 
genuine composition of Bede, which is considered more prob- 
able, then it only follows that we have, besides Bede, another 
ancient authority in favor of our opinion. 

(11.) Peter Lombard. — p. 306. 

" Cum Deus in sapientia sua angelicos condidit spiritus, 
alia etiam creavit, sicut ostendit supradicta Scriptura, quae di- 
cit in principio Deiun creasse coelum^ id est, angelos, et terrain 
scilicet, materiam quatuor elementorum adhuc confusam et in- 
formem., quae a Graecis dicta est chaos, et hoc fuit ante om- 
7iem diem. Deinde elementa distinguit Deus, et species pro- 
prias atque distinctas singulis rebus secundum genus suum 
dedit ; quae non simul, ut quibusdam sanctorum Patrum pla- 
cuit, sed per intervalla temporum ac sex volumina dierum, ut 
aliis visum est formavit."— Sentent. Lib. ii. Distinct. 12 ; Edit. 
Migne, Patr. Latin. Cursus Completus, tom. 192, p. 675. 

(12.) Hugh of .Saint Victor. — p. 306. 
''Principium ergo divinorum operum fuit creatio lucis, 



364 Appendix. 

quando ipsa lux non materialiter de nihilo creata est ; sed de 
praejacenti ilia universitatis materia formaliter facta est ut lux 
esset, et vim ac proprietatem lucendi haberet. Hoc opus 
prima die factum est ; sed hujus operis materia ante primam 
diem creata. Moxque cum ipsa luce dies coepit ; quia ante 
lucem nee nox fuit nee dies, etiamsi tenipus fnit.'''' — De Sa- 
cram. Lib. i. Pars i. cap. 9: Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat torn. 176, 

P- 193- 

(13.) Saint Thomas. — p. 307. 

^' Sed melius videtur dicendum quod creatio fuerit ante om- 
nein die?n.^^ In II. Sentent. Distinct, xiii. Art. 3, ad terthtm: 
see also ibidem ad priimim, 2LT).di ad secundum. And again 
in the Summa he says: '' Coelum et terram fecit in prima 
die, potius ante oinnem diemy — Pars i. Quaest, Ixxxiv. Art. 2. 

(14.) Perrerius.— P. 307. 
^^ YAq^X ante primuin diem, coelum et elementa facta sint 
secundum subsfantiam, tamen non fuerint perfecta et omnino 
consummata, nisi spatio illorum sex dierum : tunc enim datus 
est illis ornatus, complementum, et perfectio. Ouanto autem 
tempore status ille mundi tenebrosus duraverit, hoc est, utrura 
plus an minus quam unus dies continere solet, nee mihicom- 
pertum est, nee opinor cuiquam mortalium nisi cui divinitus 
idessetpatefactum." — Comment, in Genesim, cap.i,v. 4, n, 80. 

(15.) Petavius. — P. 307. 
"Nostra itaque sententia haec est; prima ill'a Geneseos 
verba: In principio creavit Deus coelum et terram ; non pe- 
culiare opus aliquod continere, quod initio, et ante dies sex 
molitus sit Deus : quasi ante lucem, ac reliquas deinceps opi- 
ficii partes, qualecumque coelum ac terram creaverit. Sed 
esse generale quoddam effatum, quo omnia, quae sunt a Deo 
facta, complexus est. Etenim Moses, ut initio dicebam, Ju- 
daeos statim edocere voluit ; totam illam aspectabilem rerum 
universitatem a Deo conditore profectam esse. Quare ita pro- 
nuntiavit, tanquam diceret : Ouidquid videtis et quodcumque 
coeli ac terrae comprehendit ambitus, una cum coelo ipso, 
terr^que, id omne fabricatus est initio Deus. Postea vero per 
partes, ac singillatim, ut quaeque est elaborata, decripsit." — 
De Opificio Sex Dierum, Lib. i. tap, 2, sect. 10. 



Appendix. 365 

" Imprimis ante dierum sex initmm solam cum aqua terram 
extitisse credimus: .... Habet haec opinio fidem ex Mosis 
narratione ; qui ante coelum id est JirmamenUwi, terram, et 
aquarum abyssum extitisse refert. . . . Nam illud Severiani 
valde probatur, prima die Deum omnia creasse : reliquis au- 
tem diebus, ex jam extantibus : Ubi primam diem non lucis 
tantum creatione circumscribit : sed quod ante illam factum 
est, id eidem tribuit. Quod intervallum quantum fuerit, 
nulla divinatio posset assequi. Neque vero mundi corpora 
ilia, quae prima oinniiim extitisse docui, aquam et terram, 
arbitror eodem, in qiiem hicis ortiis incidif^ fabricata esse die; 
ut quibusdam placet, baud satis firma ratione. " — Ibid., cap. 
lo, sect. 6. 

(i6.) A Lapide. — P. 307. 

" S. Basilius et Beda putant coelum et terram nonprimo die, 
sed paulo ante primum diem, utpote ante lucem, create esse. 
Verum haec non ante, sed ipso primo die, puta initio primae 
diei, antequam lux produceretur, creata esse, patet Exodi xx. 
V. II." — Comment, in Genes., cap. i, v. i. 

(17.) Saint Augustine. — p. 308. 
'' Fecisti ante'omnem diem in principio coelum et terram." 
— Confess. Lib, xii. cap. 12: see also Lib. xii. cap. 8. And 
again, De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. i. cap. 9, he writes: — 
" Atque illud ante omnem diern fecisse intelligitur, quod ^\q.- 
twvcv Q%\, In principio fecit Dens coelum et terram J . . . Ter- 
rae autem nomine invisibilis et incompositae, ac tenebrosa 
abysso, imperfectio corporalis substantiae significata est, unde 
temporalia ilia fierent, quorum prima esset lux." 

(18.) Petavius. — P. 311. 
" Quod inter\^allum quantum fuerit, nulla divinatio posset 
assequi." — De Opific. Sex Dierum, Lib. i. cap. 10, sec. 6. 

(19.) Perrerius. — P. 311. 
" Quanto autem tempore status ille mundi tenebrosus dura- 
verit, hoc est, utrum plus an minus quam unus dies continere 
solet, nee mihi compertum est, nee opinor cuiquam mortahum, 



366 - Appendix. 



nisi cui divinitus id esset patefactum." — Comment, in Genes., 
cap. I, V. 4. 

(20.) Hugh of Saint Victor.— p. 311. 

*'Fortassis jam satis est de his hactenus disputasse, si hoc ' 
solum adjecerimus quanta tempore mundus in hac confusione, 
prius quam ejus dispositio inchoaretur, perstiterit. Nam 
quod ilia prima rerum omnium materia, in principio temporis, 
vel potius cum ipso tempore exorta sit, sonstat ex eo quod dic- 
tum est : in principio creavit Deus coelum et terram. Quamdiu 
autem in hac informitate sive confusione permanserit, Sc?-ip- 
tura nianifeste non ostendit.^'' — De Sacram., Lib. i., pars i. 
cap. 6. 

(21.) Saint Augustine. — p. 319. 

''Qui dies cujusmodi sint, aut perdifficile nobis, aut etiam 
impossibile est cogitare ; quanto magis dicere." — De Civitate 
Dei, Lib. xi. cap. 6. 

Again: " Arduum quidem et difficillimum est viribus in- 
tentionis nostrae, voluntatem scriptoris in istis sex diebus 
mentis vivacitate penetrare. " — De Genesi ad Litteram, 
Lib. iv. cap. i. 

(22.) Idem. — p. 319. 

"Ac sic per oinnes illos dies unus est dies, noti istorum 
dieruni consiietudine intelligendus, quos videmus so lis circuitu 
determinari atque mimerari ; sed alio quodam rriodo, a quo 
et illi tres dies, qui ante conditionem istorum luminarium 
commemorati sunt, alieni esse non possunt. Is enim modus 
non usque ad diem "quartum, ut inde jam istos usitatos cogi- 
taremus, sed usque ad sextum septimumqiie perductus est ; 
ut longe aliter accipiendus sit dies et nox, inter quae duo divi- 
sit Deus, et aliter iste dies et nox, inter quae dixit ut dividant 
luminaria quae creavit, cum ait, ' Et dividant inter diem et 
noctem.' Tunc enim hunc diem condidit, cum condidit 
solem, cujus praesentia eumdem exhibet diem : ille autem 
dies primitus conditus jam triduum peregerat cum haec 
luniinaria illius diei quarta repctitione creata sunt." — De 
Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. iv. cap. 26. '' De quo enim Creatore 



Appendix. 367 

Scriptura ista narravit, quod sex diebus consuminaverit onuiia 
opera sua, de illo alibi non utiqiie dissonatiter scriptiim est, 
quod creaverit omnia simul (Eccles. xviii. i). Ac per hoc et 
istos dies sex velsepteitt vel potius iinum sexies septiesve repe- 
titum simul fecit qui fecit omnia simul. Quid ergo opus erat 
sex dies tam distincte dispositeque narrari ? Quia scilicet ii qui 
non possunt videre quod dictum est, ' Creavit omnia simul;* 
nisi cum eis sermo tardius incedat ad id quo eos ducit, perve- 
nire non possunt." — lb. cap. 33. 

(23). Philo Jud^us. — P. 320. 
" Tum igitur omnia simul sunt condita. In quo quidem 
universali opificio necesse erat servari ordinem." — De Mundi 
Opificio ; Edit. Francofurti, p. 14. This passage may, at 
first sight, appear somewhat obscure ; but the meaning of it 
is made clear enough, when we read elsewhere in the same 
writer: ^'- Rusticanae simplicitatis est putare, sex diebiis, aut 

utique certo tempore munduiii conditum Ergo 

cum audis: 'Complevit sexto die opera, intelligere non debes 
de diebus aliquot, sed de senario perfecto numero." — De 
Legis Allegor. ; Edit. Francofurti, p. 41. 

(24). Clement of Alexandria, — p. 320. 

Stromatum, Lib. vi. Edit. Benid. p. 291 ; Edit. Migne, 
Patrum Graec. Cursus Completus, vol. 9, pp. 370-5. See also 
Dissertatio de Libris Stromatum, by the learned Benedictine, 
Nicholas le Nourry, cap, viii. artic. i. 

(25). Origen. — P. 320. 

''Quod autem prima die lucem, secunda firmamentum 
creaverit, tertia aquae quae sub coelo erant, in suis fuerint 
collectae receptaculis, atque ita terra solius naturae adminis- 
tratione suos fructus protulerit ; quod quarta creata fuerint 
luminaria et stellae, quinta vero natatilia, sexta demum ter- 
restria et homo, haec omnia, prout facultas tulit, in nostris in 
Genesim commentariis explicavimus. Quin et supra contra 
eos qui obvio sensu Scripturam ijiterpretantes asserunt sex 
dies ad creationem mujidi inniwiptos fuisse, adduximus hunc 
locum : '■ Iste est liber generationis coeli et terrae quando 



368 Appendix. 

creata sunt, in die quo fecit Deuscoslum et terram," — Contra 
Celsum, Lib. vi. Edit. Bened. pp. 678, 679 ; Edit. Migne, 
Patr. Graecor. Cursus Completus, vol. 11, p. 1390: for the 
passage referred to at the close of the extract see p. 1378. 
The Commentary upon Genesis of which Origen here speaks 
no longer exists, but the following passage has been pre- 
served. '^ Aliqui jam absurdum existimantes Deum architect! 
more non aliter, quam plurium dierum, labore, fabricam va- 
lentis absolvere, intra multos dies mundum perfecisse una 
cMiicta momenta ac simul extitisse aiunt, et hinc illud 
adstruunt ; ordinis autem causa, et ut series constet, dierum 
et rerum quae in ilMs factae sunt, numerum dictum putant. 
Hi probabiliter sententiam stabiliunt ea auctoritate qua dic- 
tum est : ' Ipse dixit et facta sunt ; ipse mandavit, et creata 
sunt.'" — Selecta in Genesim, Edit. Bened. p. 27; Edit. 
Migne, Patr. Graec. Cursus Completus, vol. 12, p. 98. 
Again, in his Treatise De Principiis, Lib. iv., he says: " Quis 
igitur sanae mentis existimaverit primam et secundam et ter- 
tiam diem, et vesperam, et mane, sine sole, luna, et stellis, et 
eam quae veluti prima erat, diem sine coelo fuisse ?" Edit. 
Bened. p. 175; Edit. Migne, vol, 11, p. 378. See also P. 
Danielis Huetii Origeniana, Lib. ii. cap. 2, Quaest. 8, § 6 ; 
Edit. Migne, vol. 17, p. 979. 

(26.) Saint Athanasius. — p. 320. 
" Cum ex supra dictis constet, nullam e rebtis creatis prius 
aliera factum esse, sed res omnes factas uno eodemque 
mandate simul extitisse." — Oratio ii. Contra Arianos, n. 6-^. 
Edit. Bened. p. 418. New Edition, p. 528. Edit. Migne, 
Patr. Graecor. Cursus Completus, p. 275. 

(27.) Saint Eucherius. — p. 320. 

Speaking stricly we should rather say the author of a Com- 
mentary upon Genesis belonging to a very early period of the 
Church, ascribed by some to Saint Eucherius, and usually 
published with his works. This author says, no doubt, that 
God first, in. the beginning, created the substance of all 
things, and afterward developed the various forms on succes 
sive days (Gen. ii. 4) : but then he tells us expressly that the 



pendix. 369 



substance did not precede the forms by any priority of time, 
but only by priority of origin (Gen. i. 2). Thus his' view 
coincides pretty nearly, with that of Saint Augustine, whose 
words, indeed, he seems to borrow. "'Terra autem erat 
inanis et vacua.' Id est, adhuc informis erat ipsa materia : 
quia necdum ex ea coelum et terra, necdum omnia formata 
crant, quae formar i restabant : haec enim materia, ex nihilo 
facta, praecessit tamen res ex se factas, non quidein aeternitate 
vel tempore, sicut praecedit lignum arcam j sed sola origine, 
sicut praecedit vox verbimi, vel S07tus cantuin: nam * qui vivit 
in aeternum creavit omnia simul. '" — Edit. Migne, Patr. Latin 
Cursus Completus, vol. 50, p. 894. 

(28.) Procopius of Gaza. — p. 320. 

We quote this writer on the authority of Perrerius, from 
whom the following passage is taken. ^' Idem censet hoc 
loco Procopius Gazasus: Mozen enim, inquit, in describendo 
mundi opificium, sex dierum distinctione usum esse docendi 
gratia ob tarditatem, videlicet, ruditatemque Judseorum, qui- 
bus ha2C scribebat : qui quae Deus simul fecerat, ob tantam 
eorum multitudinem atque varietatem simul et indiscrete ca- 
pere et colmprehendre, ut erant angustissimis ingeniis nequa- 
quam potuissent." — In Genes., cap. 2, vers. 4, 5, 6, n. 179. 

(29.) Albertus Magnus. — p. 320. 

'' Videtur mihi Augustino consentiendum." — Summa P. i, 
Ouaest. 12, art. 6. See Pianciani, Cosmogonia Naturale, 
p. 23. 

(30.) Saint Thomas. — p. 320. 

Summa Pars. i. Qu^st. 74, art. ii. ; also in an earlier 
work, Super Libros Sententiarum Petri Loriibardi Commen- 
tarius, Distinct, xii. art. i. and iii. Having explained the 
opinion of Saint Augustine that there was no real succession 
in the order of time between the various works of the crea- 
tion, but that all were created together; and also the opinion 
of other Holy Fathers, that there was a real succession, he 
continues thus: ''Prima ergo opinio [Sancti Augustini] ma- 



3/0 Appendix. 



gis convenit rationiy nee est contra Scriptura7n j quia ea 
quae in Scriptura ordinem temporis importare videntur, ad 
ordinem naturae Augustinus refert : secunda vero magis con- 
venit Scripturae secundum suam superficiem. Quia ergo 
utraque a Sanctis patrocinium habet, utramque sustinendo, 
objectionibus hinc inde factis respondendum est."^Loco citato, 
art. i. Solutio. 

(31.) Cardinal Cajetan. — p. 320. 
We are again indebted to Perrerius for the views of Car- 
dinal Cajetan. He writes thus : '' Accedit huic sententiae Ca- 
jet. in Comment, super i. cap. Genes., et distinctionem sex 
dierum putat in id positam a Mose, quo facilius declararet 
naturalem rerum ordinem, consequentiam et dependentiam. 
Sic enim res suapte natura inter se aptas et connexse sunt,, ut 
si mundum successive voluisset Deus facere, non alio ordine 
vel successione, quam uthic narratur, facturus eum fuisset." — 
In Genes., cap. ii. vers 4, 5, 6, n, 179. 

(32.) Venerable Bede. — p. 323. 

'' Aperte intelligi quia diem hoc loco Scriptura pro omni 
illo tempore ponit quo primordialis natura formata est. Neque 
enim in unoquolibet sex dierum coelum factum est et sideribus 
illustratum, et terra est separata ab aquis, atque arboribus et 
herbis consita ; sed more sibi solito Scriptura diem pro tem- 
pore ponit J quomodo Apostolus, cum ait, ' Ecce nunc dies 
salutis,' non unum specialiter diem, sed totum significat tem- 
pus hoc quo in praesenti vita pro aeterna salute laboramus." — • 
Hexaemeron, Lib. i. in Gen. ii. 4 ; Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. 
Cursus Completus, vol. 91, p. 39. 

(33.) Saint Augustine. — p. 323. 

'' Superius septem dies numerantur, nunc unus dicitur dies, 
quo die fecit Deus coelum et terram, et omne viride agri, et 
omne pabulum, ciijus diei iiomine omne tenipus signijicari 
bene intelligitur. Fecit enim E)eus omne teinpus simul cum 
omnibus creaturis temporalibus> quae creaturae visibiles coeli 
et terrae nomine significantur." — De Genesi contra Mani- 
chaeos, Lib. ii. cap, 3, n. 4. 



Appendix. 371 

(34.) Molina. — p. 323. 

" Dicunt Doctores communiter, Moysem eo loco sumpsisse 
diem pro tempore juxta illud Deuteronomii" xxxii., juxta est 
dies perditionis, . . . . et alibi saepe, in Scriptura sumitur 
dies pro tempore." — In primam partem, De opere sex dierum, 
D. I. See Pianciani, Cosmogonia Naturale, p. 27. 

(35.) Bannez.— P. 323. 

" Dies potest accipi pro quacumque duratione et mensura." 
— In Summa, Pars i. Quasst. 'j'^^. 

(36.) Perrerius. — P. 323. 

" Nee officit huic sententiae, quod pauUo superius ex cap. ii. 
Geneseos prolatum est, * In die quo fecit Dominus Deus 
coelum et terram.* Ibi enim dies pro tempore , sicut crebro fit in 
Scriptura, positiis est.^'' — In Gen. cap. i. v. 4, n. 80; see also 
cap. ii., n. 186. 

(37.) Petavius. — P. 323. 

" Postqiiam Moyses sex dierum opificium toto primo capita 
descripsit, mox in sequenti summatim universeque colligens, 
* Istae sunt,' inquit, ' generationes coeli et terrae, quando 
creata sunt, in die quo fecit Dominus Deus coelum et terram.' 
Quae verba non unius diei mentionem faciunt, ut quibusdam 
videtur ; qui primum diem designari putant, in quo factum 
illud est, praeter lucem, quod initio libri Moyses explicat, ' In 
principio creavit Deus coelum et terram.' Sed eam nos opin- 
ionem minime probamus, ac supra docuimus, diei nomen istic 
usurpari pro tempore: quod apud Graecos Latinosque, non 
minus quam Hebraeos, usitatem est. Exemplo sit Ciceronis 
illud ex libro secundo in Verrem : ' Itaque cum ego diem in 
Siciliam inquirendi prexiguam postulavissem, invenit iste, qui 
sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet.' Igitur cum 
dixisset, iji die, id est tempore illo, factum esse coelum et ter- 
ram, hoc est perpolitum et elaboratum esse sex continuis die- 
bus," etc. — De Opificio Sex Dierum, Lib. i. cap. 14, sect. i. 



372 Appendix. 

(38.) Saint Augustine. — p. 335. 

" Tres enim dies super lores quomodo esse sine sole potu- 
erunt, cum videamus nunc solis ortu et occasu diem transigi, 
noctem vero fieri solis absentia, cum ab alia parte mundi ad 
orientem redit ? Ouibus respondemus, potuisse fieri ut tres 
superiorcs dies singuli per tantam moram temporis computa- 
rentur, per quantam rnoram circumit sol, ex quo procedit ab 
oriente quousque rursus ad orientem revertitur. Hanc enim 
moram et longitudinem temporis possent sentire homines 
etiamsi in speluncis habitarent, ubi orientem et occidentem 
solem videre non possent. Atque ita §entitur potuisse istam 
moram fieri etiam sine sole antequam sol factus esset, atque 
ipsam moram in illo triduo per dies singulos computatam. 
Hoc ergo responderemus, nisi nos revocaret, quod ibi dicitur, 
' Et facta est vespera et factum est mane,' quod nunc sine solis . 
cursu videmus fieri non posse. Restat ergo ut intelligamus, 
in ipsa quidem mora temporis ipsas distinctiones operum sic 
appellatas, vesperam propter transactionem constmiuiatl operis, 
et mane propter inchoationem fiituri operis j de similitudine 
scilicet humanorum operum, quia plerumque a mane incipi- 
unt, et ad vesperam desinunt. Habent enim consuetudinem 
Divinae Scripturae de rebus humanis ad divinas res verba 
transferre." — De Genesi contra Manichaeos, Lib. i. cap. 14, 
n. 20. 

(39.) Saint Eucherius.— p. 335. 

It is uncertain, as we before observed, if this commentary- 
is the genuine work of Saint Eucherius ; at all events it is the 
production of some learned and Catholic writer of the fifth or 
sixth century. His words run thus : '' Vespere conditae crea- 
iurae terminus ; mane initiu?n condendae creaturae alter ius." 
— Comment, in Genes, cap. i. v. 4 ; Edit. Migne, Patr. 
Latin. Cursus Completus, vol. 50, p. 897. And again in v. 10 
et seqq. : — " Si quarto die facta sunt luminaria, quomodo 
tres dies jam ante fuerunt ? nisi ut intelligamus, in ipsa hora 
temporis ipsas operum distinctiones ita appellatas ; vesperam 
propter transactionem consummati operis j mane propter in- 
choatio7iem futuri diei ; in similitudinem humanorum operum 



Appendix. 373 

quod plerique mane incipiunt et in vesperam desiniint." — lb. 
p. 899. 

(40.) Venerable Bede. — p. 335. 

" Quid est vespere nisi ipsa perfectio singiilorum operum f 
et mane, id est inchoatio sequentium?" — De Sex Dierum 
Creatione, De Prima Die ; Edit. Migne, Patrum Lat. Cursus 
Completus, vol. 93, p. 210. 

In another place he says ; -' Vespere autem in toto illo 
triduo, antequam luminaria essent, consiiminati operis ter- 
minus non absurde fortasse intelligitur ; Mane awiem. fuhcriE 
operaiionis significatio.'''' In Pentateuchum Comment. Gen. 
cap. i. ; Edit. Migne, vol. 91, p. 194. 

(41.) Saint Hildegarde, — p. 335. 

" Sex enim dies, sex opera sunt; quia inceptio et completio 
singuli cujusque operis dies dicitur." — Epist. ad Colonienses. 
See Pianciani, Cosmogonia, p. 34. 

(42.) Saint Augustine.— p. 342. 

" Dies autem septimus sine vespere est nee habet occasum." 
— Confess. Lib. xiii. cap. xxxvi. 

(•43.) Venerable Bede. — p. 342. 

" Quia finem non habet, neque ullo termino clauditur." — 
De Sex Dierum Creatione, De Die Septima ; Edit. Migne, 
Patr. Lat. Cursus Completus, vol. 93, p. 218. And elsewhere 
he says : " Septimus dies coepit a mane et in nullo vespere 
terminatur." — In Pentateuch Comment., Gen. ii. ; Edit. 
Migne, vol. 91, p- 203. 

(44.) Saint Augustine.— p. 355. 

" Eligat quis quod potest : tantum ne aliquid temere at<jue 
incognitum pro cognito asserat; memineritque se hominem 
de divinis operibus quantum permittitur quaerere." — De 
Genesi Liber Imperfectus, cap. ix., n. 80, 



APPENDIX TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

From Pj'of. J. D. Dana's Manual of Geology. \?>vo. PhilU' 
delphia : T. Bliss &r> Co. ] ^By permission of the author. 



COSMOGONY. 



The science of cosmogony treats of the history of creation. 

Geology comprises that later portion of the history which is 
within the range of direct investigation, beginning with the 
rock-covered globe, and gathering only a few hints as to 
a previous state of igneous fluidity. 

Through Astronomy our knowledge of this earlier state 
becomes less doubtful, and we even discover evidence of a 
period still more remote. Ascertaining thence that the sun 
of our system is in intense ignition, that the moon, the earth's 
satellite, was once a globe of fire, but is now cooled and 
covered with extinct craters, and that space is filled with 
burning suns, — and learning also from physical science that 
all heated bodies in space must have been losing heat through 
past time, the smallest most rapidly, — we safely conclude that 
the earth has passed through a stage of igneous fluidity. 

Again, as to the remoter period : the forms of the nebulas 
and of other starry systems in the heavens, and the relations 
which subsist between the spheres in our own system, have 
be«n found to be such as would have resulted if the whole 
universe had been evolved , from an original nebula or 
gaseous fluid. It is not necessary for the strength of this 
argument that any portion of the primal nebula should exist 
now at this late period in the history of the universe : it is 
only what might have been expected that the nebulae of the 



Appendix, * 3/5 

present heavens should be turning out to be clusters of stars. 
If, then, this nebular theory be true, the universe has been 
developed from a primal unit, and the earth is one of the 
individual orbs produced in the course of its evolution. Its 
history is in kind like that which has been deciphered with 
regard to the earth : it only carries the action of physical 
forces, under a sustaining and directing hand, further back in 
time. 

The science also of Chemistry is aiding in the study of the 
earth's earliest development, and is preparing itself to write a 
history of the various changes which should have taken place 
among the elements from the first commencement of combina- 
tion to the formation of the solid crust of our globe. 

It is not proposed to enter either into chemical or astronom- 
ical details in this place, but, supposing the nebular theory to 
be true, briefly to mention the great stages of progress in the 
history of the earth, or those successive periods which stand 
out prominently in time through the exhibition of some new 
idea in the grand system of progress. The views here offered, 
and the following on the cosmogony of the Bible, are essentially 
those brought out by Professor Guyot in his lectures. 

Stages of progress. — These stages of progress are as fol- 
low :— 

(l.) The BEGINNING OF ACTIVITY IN MATTER. — In SUch 
a beginning from matter in the state of a gaseous fluid the 
activity would be intense, and it would show itself at once by 
a manifestation of light, since light is a resultant of molecular 
activity. A flash of light through the universe would there- 
fore be the first announcement of the work begun. 

(2.) The developmejit of the EARTH. — A dividing and sub- 
dividing of the original fluid going on would have evolved 
systems of various grades, and ultimately the orbs of space, 
among these the earth, an igneous sphere enveloped in 
vapors. 

(3.) The production of the EARTH'S PHYSICAL FEATURES, 
— by the outlining of the continents and oceans. The con- 
densible vapors would have gradually settled upon the earth 
as cooling progressed. 



Z7^ ' Appendix. 

(4.) The introduction of lAYY. under its siinplest forms, — 
as in the lowest of plants, and perhaps, also of animals. As 
shown on page 396, the systems of structure characterizing 
the two kingdoms of nature, the Radiate of the Vegetable 
kingdom, and the Radiate, Molluscan, Articulate, and Verte- 
brate of the Animal, are not brought out in the simplest forms 
of life. The true Z!7zV era in history began later. As plants 
are primarily the food of animals, there is reason for believing 
that the idea of life was first expressed in a plant. 

( 5 . ) The display of the SYSTEMS in the Kingdoms of Life, — 
the exhibition of the four grand types under the Animal 
kingdom, being the predominant idea in this phase of 
progress. 

(6. ) The introduction of the highest class of Vertebrates — 
that of the MAMMALS (the class to which Man belongs), vivip- 
arous species, which are eminent above all other Vertebrates 
for a quality prophetic of a high moral purpose, — that of 
suckling their young. 

(7.) The introduction iT/'Man, — the first being of moral and 
intellectual qualities, and one in whom the unity of nature has 
its full expression. 

There is another great event in the Earth's history which 
has not yet been mentioned, because of a little uncertainty 
with regard to its exact place among the others. The event 
referred to is the first shining of the sun upon the earth, after 
the vapors which till then had shrouded the sphere were 
mostly condensed. This must have preceded the introduction 
of the Animal system, since the sun is the grand source of 
activity throughout nature on the earth, and is essential to 
the existence of life, excepting its lowest forms. In the 
history of the globe which has been given on page 196, it has 
been shown that the outlining of the continents was one of 
the earliest events, dating even from the Azoic age ; and it is 
probable, from the facts stated,, that- it preceded that clearing 
of the atmosphere which opened the sky to the earth. This 
would place the event between numbers 3 and 5, and as the 
sun's light was not essential to the earhest of organisms, 
probably after number 4. 



Appendix. 377 

The order will, then, be — 

(i.) Activity begun, — light an immediate result. 

(2.) The earth made an independent sphere. 

(3.) Outlining of the land and water, determining the 
earth's general configuration. 

(4.) The idea of life expressed in the lowest plants, and 
afterward, if not cotemporaneously, in the lowest or system- 
less animals, or Protozoans. 

(5.) The energizing light of the sun shining on the earth,- — 
an essential preliminary to the display of the systems of life. 

(6. ) Introduction of the system of life. 

(7.) Introduction of Mammals, the highest order of Verte- 
brates, — the class afterward to be dignified by including a 
being of moral and intellectual nature. 

(8.) Introduction of Man. 

Cosmogony of the Bible. — There is one ancient document 
on cosmogony — that of the opening page of the Bible — which 
is not only admired for its sublimity, but is very generally 
believed to be of divine origin, and which, therefore, demands 
at least a brief consideration in this place. 

In the first place, it may be observed that this document if 
true, is of divine origiii. For no human mind was witness of 
the events ; and no such mind in the early age of the world, un- 
less gifted with superhuman intelligence, could have contrived 
such a scheme ; — would have placed the creation of the sun, the 
source of light to the earth, so long after the creation of light, 
even on \\\q. fourth day, and, what is equally singular, between 
the creation of plants and that of animals, when so important to 
both ; and none could have reached to the depths of philosophy 
exhibited in the whole plan. 

Again, If divine, the account must bear marks of human 
imperfection, since it was communicated through man. Ideas 
suggested to a human mind by the Deity would take shape in 
that mind according to its range of knowledge, modes of thought, 
and use of language, unless it were at the same time super- 
naturally gifted with the profound knowledge and wisdom ad- 
equate to their conception ; and even then they could not be 
intelligibly expressed, for want of words to represent them. 



37^ Appendix. 

The central thought of each step in the Scripture cosmogony 
— for example, Light, — the dividing of tha fluid earth from the 
fluid around it, individualizing the earth, — the arrangement 
of its land and water, — vegetation, — and so on — is brought out 
in the simple and natural style of a sublime intellect, wise for 
its times, but unversed in the depths of science which the 
future was to reveal. The idea of vegetation to such a one 
would be vegetation as he knew it; and so it is described. 
The idea of dividing the earth from the fluid around it would 
take the form of a dividing from the fluid above, in the im- 
perfect conceptions of a mind unacquainted with the earth's 
sphericity and the true nature of the firmament, — especially 
as the event was beyond the reach of all ordinary thought. 

Objections are often made to the word " day," — as if its use limited the 
time of each of the six periods to a day of twenty-four hours. But in the course 
of the document this word " day" has various significations, and, among 
them, all that are common to it in ordinary language. These are — (i.) 
The light, — " God called the light day," v. 5 ; (2) the " evening and the 
morning" before the appearance of the sun j (3) the ** evening and the 
morning" after the appearance of the sun j (4) the hours of light in the 
twenty-four hours (as well as the whole twenty-four hours), in verse 14; 
and (5) in the following chapter, at the Commencement of another record of 
creation, the whole period of creation is called a " day," The proper 
meaning of "evening and morning," in a history of creation, is beginning 
and completion • and, in this sense, darkness before light is but a common 
metaphor, 

A Deity working in creation like a day-laborer by earth-days of twenty- 
four hours, resting at night, is a belittling conception, and one probably 
never in the mind of the sacred penman. In the plan of an infinite God, 
centuries are required for the maturing of some of the plants with which 
the earth is adorned. 

The order of events in the Scripture cosmogony corresponds 
essentially with that which has been given. There was first a 
void and formless earth : this was literally true of the " heavens 
and the earth," if they were in a condition of a gaseous fluid. 
The succession is as follows : 

(I.) Light. 



Appendix. 379 

. (2.) The dividing of the waters below from the waters above 
the earth, (the word translated waters may mediTiJiiiid.) 

(3.) The dividing of the land and water on the earth. 

(4.) Vegetation; which Moses, appreciating the philosoph- 
' leal characteristic of the new creation distinguishing it from 
previous inorganic substances, defines as that "which has seed 
in itself." 

(5.) The sun, moon, and stars. 

(6. ) The lower animals, those that swarm in the waters, and 
the creeping and flying species of the land. 

(7.) Beasts of prey (''creeping" here meaning "prowl- 
ing')— 

(8.) Man. 

In this succession, we observe not merely an order of events, 
like that deduced from science ; there is a system in the 
arrangement, and a far-reaching prophecy, to which philos* 
ophy could not have attained, however instructed. 

The account recognizes in creation two great eras of three 
days each, — an Inorganic and an Organic. 

Each of these eras opens with the appearance of light : the 
yirst, light cosmical ; the second^ light from the sun for the 
special uses of the earth. 

Each are ends in a "day" of two great works, — the two 
shown to be distinct by being severally pronounced " good." 
On the thii'd "day," that closing the Inorganic era, there was 
first the dividing of the land from the waters, and afterward 
the creation of •uegetation, or the institution of a kingdom 
of life, — a work widely diverse from all preceding it in the 
era. So on the sixth "day," terminating the Organic era, 
there was first the creation of Mammals, and then a second 
far greater work, totally new in its grandest element, the 
creation of Man. 

The arrangement is, then, as follows: — 

I. The Inorganic Era. 
■ 1st Day. — LIGHT cosmical. 
• 2d Day. — The earth divided from the fluid around it, or 
individualized. 



380 Appendix. 



3d Day.— ^ ^• 



Outlining of the land and water. 
Creation of vesretation. 



2. The Organic Ei'a. 
4th Day. — LIGHT from the sun. 
5th Day. — Creation of the lower orders of animals. 
\ I. Creation of Mammals. 
2. Creation of Man. 



6th Day 



In addition, the last day of each era included one work 
typical of the era, and another related to it in essential points, 
but also prophetic of the future. Vegetation, while, for 
physical reasons, a part of the creation of the third day, was 
also prophetic of the future Organic era, in which the progress 
of life w-as the grand characteristic. The record thus accords 
with the fundamental principle in history that the character- 
istic of an age has its beginnings within the age preceding. - 
So, again, Man, while like other Mammals in structure, even 
to the homologies of every bone and muscle, was endowed 
with a spiritual nature, which looked forward to another era, 
that of spiritual existence. — The seventh "day," the day of 
rest from the work of creation, is man's period of preparation 
for that new existence ; and it is to promote this special end 
that — in strict parallelism — the Sabbath follows man's six 
days of work. 

The record in the Bible is, therefore, profoundly philo- 
sophical in the scheme of creation which it pesents. It is 
both true and divine. It is a declaration of authorship, 
both of Creation and the Bible, on the first page of the sacred 
volume. 

There can be no real conflict between the two Books of the 
Great Author. Both are revelations made by Him to 
man,— the earlier telling of God-made harmonies coming up 
from the deep past, and rising to their height when man 
appeared, the later teaching man's relations to his Maker, 
and speaking of loftier harmonies in the eternal future. 



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